Swimmers from the Castlebar Swimming Club travelled to Tuam on Sunday Jan 11th for the Connacht Secondary Schools Championships.

Topping the bill was Darragh Quinn swimming for St Gerald’s, in the senior boys section Darragh took gold in the 100m Breaststroke (1 .12 97), gold in the Individual Medley (2.24 88) and gold in the open 400m Freestyle in a time of (4.38 11) Darragh was also part of the successful team along with Colm Garrick, Jimmy Wiseman and Michael Walls who took gold in both the 4x50m medley team relay and 4 x 50m freestyle relay events

Other gold medal performances were produced by ;
Sarah Caulfield swimming for St Patrick’s, Islandeady took gold in the 100m Breaststroke Intermediate Girls in a personal best time of 1.20 61 A brilliant Swim !!.
Colm Garrick swimming for St Gerald’s Senior boys took gold in 100m Backstroke in a time of 1.05 89.

Silver Medal performances included ;
Laura Keaveney (Sacred Heart, Westport) took silver in Intermediate Girls 100m Fly in a new personal best time of 1.10 56.
John White (Foxford) took silver in Intermediate Boys 100m Backstroke in a time of 1.10 26.
Laura English (St. Joseph’s, Castlebar) took silver in Senior Girls Breaststroke in a time of 1.19 88 and then went on to take silver in the Individual Medley in a time of 2.36 57.

Bronze Medals were awarded to :-
Jimmy Wiseman (St. Gerald’s, Castlebar) Senior Boys 100m fly in a time of 1.08 85
Jill McGee (Yeats College, Galway) Senior Girls 100m Breaststroke – 1.26 55
Patrick Wiseman (St Gerald’s) Junior Boys Individual Medley in time of 2.47
Aisling Bourke (Balla) Junior Girls Individual Medley in a personal best time of 2.45
Anthony English (St. Gerald’s) Intermediate Boys Individual Medley in time of 2.45 19
Colm Garrick (St. Gerald’s) Senior Boys 100m Breaststroke in time of 1.12 97

Swimmers to reach finals in their individual events included:
Fionnuala Quinn (St. Joseph’s) Junior Girls Fly, Natalie Bourke (Balla) Junior Girls Fly, Eleanor Grier-Gavin (St. Joseph’s) Intermediate Girls Fly and Breaststroke. Sarah Wiseman (St. Joseph’s) Intermediate Girls Fly , Michael walls (St. Gerald’s) Senior Boys Fly, John White (Foxford) Intermediate Boys Freestyle. Brian Moran (Gortnor Abbey) Senior Boys Backstroke, Aisling Bourke (Balla) Junior Girls Breaststroke, Jill McGee(Yeats College) Senior Girls Freestyle, Zoe Davis (Sacred Heart, Westport) reserve Finalist in Intermediate Girls Freestyle

Other swimmers to represent St. Joseph’s, Castlebar included Catherine Long, Stephanie Ford, Deborah Brennan, Juliet Connaughton, Deirdre Ni Dhomhnaill, Maeve Garrick, Aisling Walls.

Representing St. Gerald’s, Castlebar Rory Grier-Gavin, Fergus Sweeney.

James Caulfield represented St. Patrick’s, Islandeady and Emma Hynes represented Balla.

Swimming in the Junior Girls Medley and Freestyle Team relay events were Stephanie Ford, Fionnuala Quinn, Catherine Long and Katie Tuohy representing St. Joseph’s, Castlebar.

Representing St.. Gerald’s in the Intermediate Boys Medley and Freestyle Team relay events were Patrick Wiseman, Anthony English, Fergus Sweeney and Rory Grier-Gavin.
The final event of the day was the open 400m Freestyle which saw Patrick Wiseman record a time of 5.08 19, Laura English 5.07 64 and Eleanor Grier-Gavin 5.19 50

The following 19 swimmers have achieved the necessary qualifying times and go forward to the All Ireland Secondary Schools Championships to be held in Leisureland, Galway on 6th and 7th February

Fionnuala Quinn (St. Joseph’s), Natalie Bourke (Balla) Elaine Joyce (Sacred Heart, Westport), Elenor Grier-Gavin (St. Joseph’s), Sarah Wiseman (St. Joseph’s) Laura Keaveney (Sacred Heart, Westport) Zoe Davis (Sacred Heart, Westport) John White (Foxford) Michael Walls (St. Gerald’s), Colm Garrick (St. Gerald’s) Brian Moran (Gortnor Abbey) Aisling Bourke (Balla) Sarah Caulfield (St. Patrick’s) Darragh Quinn (St. Gerald’s) Laura English ( St. Joseph’s) Jill McGee (Yeats College) Patrick Wiseman (St. Gerald’s), Katie Tuohy (St. Joseph’s) Conal Joyce (Rice College Westport)

Congratulations all around and GOOD LUCK at the All Ireland School Championships.