Castlebar - County Mayo - Golden Moments For Castlebar Swimming Club

Castlebar Swimming Club “A” swimmers were in action at the annual Claremorris gala on Saturday 8th and 9th.

The top performer for the club was Cian Holland taking 3 gold medals, 1 silver and 1 bronze. Cian was in scintillating form in the final of the boys U-16 100m Butterfly event, breaking his own Connacht Junior Record as he took gold in brilliant fashion.

He followed this with an equally fine performance in the final of the Boys U-16 100m Freestyle pulling away from a strong field in the last 25m and just to round things off Cian took the bronze medal in the 200m Individual Medley event.

In the relay events he helped the boys U-16 squad to victory in the 4 x 50m freestyle relay, and the senior men to 2nd place in their 4 x 50m Freestyle relay.

Sara English was also in superb form taking gold in the women’s senior 100m Breaststroke, Sara took a second gold in the women’s 100m Backstroke in fine fashion.

Shenagh O’Byrne produced a “Division 1” qualifying time in the heats of the girls U-12 100m Butterfly event, and repeated this in a hotly contested final to take the gold medal. Shenagh also qualified for the final of the U-12 100m Freestyle, following a personal best time in the heats, and was 5th in the U-12 200m Individual Medley event.

Laura Keaveney had yet another good weekend of swimming, with a bronze medal in the girls U-14 100m Butterfly, 5th in the 200m Individual Medley and was reserve finalist for the 100m Freestyle.

Ciaran Garrick reaped the rewards of all his hard work with a “Nationals” qualifying time in the senior mens 100m freestyle, where he took the bronze medal. Ciaran took 2 more bronze medals in the 100m Butterfly and 100m Breaststroke.

Joseph Moran was also a medal winner, with bronze in the boys U-16 100m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke. Joseph also took gold and silver in the U-16 and senior relays respectively.

Laura English continues to impress with her performance in the breaststroke in particular, she took bronze in the final of the girls U-16 Breaststroke event.
Sarah Wiseman goes from strength to strength and showed her vast improvement as she qualified for the final of the girls U-14 Butterfly.

In the relay events, the boys U-16 squad (Cian Holland, Joseph Moran, Colm Garrick and Jimmy Wiseman) took gold with fine swims from all.

The senior mens relay team (Ciaran Garrick, Cian Holland, Colm Garrick and Joseph Moran) were pipped at the post into silver medal position, in what was a thrilling contest.
The girls U-14 relay team (Laura Keaveney, Sarah Wiseman, Doireann Dever and Shenagh O’Byrne) came 4th as did the Jumbo relay team.

Other swimmers to represent the club over the two days of the very tough competitions were: Girls – Eleanor Grier-Gavin, Sarah Caulfield, Aisling Bourke, Natalie Bourke, Fionnuala Quinn, Meabh Garrick, Katie Tuohy, Aisling Walls, Ciara McGowan and Jill Magee. Boys – James Sweeney, Fergus Sweeney, Conal Joyce, Patrick Wiseman, James Caulfield, Brian Moran, Anthony English, Richard Martin, Michael Walls, Mark Keaveney and Conor Heneghan.

Connacht Training Squad – Our heartiest congratulations to Cian Holland and Joseph Moran on being selected to the Connacht Squad of twenty elite swimmers, to go to Crystal Palace in order to train in a 50m pool from the 1st to 6th January 2002. We wish the lads the best of luck.