Castlebar Swimming Club
Castlebar Swim Success
By Darina Molloy
22, Nov 2011 - 07:54

Following on from the excellent 'at home' gala which kicked off this year's season, Castlebar Swimming Club had two very successful 'away' outings recently. The first, a B & C graded gala at Claremorris, was held on Sunday, October 23 and Castlebar swimmers were in fine form, gaining personal bests in several strokes. First up was the 100 meter freestyle, and there were B times from Sean O'Connor and Jamie Viegas in the under-11s, Nathan Rennick in the 12-13 age group and Matthew Moran in the 14-15 group. Other boys to swim well for Castlebar included Michael Fahy, James English, Daniel Viegas and Ciaran Mylette.

For the girls, Niamh Breslin, Heather Fadden, Aoife Donohoe and Hannah Grady achieved their B times in the under-11s, while Louise Mongan took a B time and overall second place in the 12-13 age, and Meghan Coen grabbed a B time and a silver medal in the 14-15 group. Also competing for Castlebar were Fiona Conway, Clodagh Healy, Saoirse Hoban, Hazel Coen, Meghan Deely and Sarah Burke.

In the 50 meter butterfly, Sean O'Connor edged closer to an A time, and placed fourth overall, with Jamie Viegas and Michael Fahy following closely to achieve B times in the under-11 age group. Clodagh Healy took a gold medal and an A time with an excellent time of 45.52 for the under-11 girls, and there were B times in this age category for Niamh Breslin, Hannah Grady, Aoife Donohoe, Heather Fadden, with Fiona Conway also swimming well. In the girls' 14-15 age group, Meghan Coen took overall second with a fine time of 1:40.18 in the 100 meter fly.

The individual races finished up with the 100 meter IM, and there were podium finishes from Sean O'Connor, Hannah Grady, Nathan Rennick, Louise Mongan and Meghan Coen. Sean O'Connor and Jamie Viegas achieved A times for the boys, while Hannah Grady and Niamh Breslin did the same for the girls. Castlebar Swimming Club also took two silvers - in the boys and girls 11 & under 100 meter freestyle relays, while the 12-13 girls narrowly missed out on the medals, taking fourth place overall.

The following weekend, it was the turn of the Cranny Hallowe'en Gala at Leisureland, Galway, and Castlebar swimmers again performed very well, taking home an impressive tally of medals and personal best times.

Ronan Dervan got a bronze medal in the under 10 50 meter breaststroke, while Eoghan Grady also took bronze in the 15-16 age 200 meter backstroke, and Killian Dervan took silver in the over 17s age category. For the girls, there were three silver medals in the various age groups for the 200 meter breaststroke: Siofra Horan in the 11-12s, Ambre Fadden in the 13-14s, and Louise Dervan in the 15-16s. In the boys' 200 meter breaststroke Mark Dervan took gold and Conor Melly bronze in the 11-12s, while Killian Dervan took silver in the 17 and over age group.

Other medal winners for the boys were Cillian Melly, who took silver in the 200 meter butterfly and bronze in the 200 meter IM; Mark Dervan, who took bronze in the 200 meter IM; Killian Dervan, who secured bronze in the 200 meter IM; and Eoghan Grady, with another bronze in the 200 meter freestyle. The 13-14 year old girls had a triple-header in the 200 meter IM, with Sinead Mylett, Chloe Sheridan and Aisling Grady taking gold, silver and bronze, respectively. Edel Egan took a bronze in the 200 meter freestyle with a personal best time.

Other Castlebar swimmers with fine performances and personal bests on the day included Laura Fahy, Niamh Heneghan, Aoibheann Hennigan, Nicola Connelly, Paula McDonagh, Ellen Murphy, Caoimhe Hennigan, Patrick Livingstone, Una Togher and Jamie Murphy. Much credit for these fantastic achievements is due to the hard-working young swimmers, who train for hours every week, and to all of their coaches - especially Marian English and Joe Moran - who continue to dedicate themselves to developing the talent of the club.