It's medals aplenty as four Bann boys qualify for Swim Ulster

At Lisburn’s Lagan Valley Leisureplex, Bann brought home lots of medals while Isaac Forsythe, Taylor Hill, Tom King and Lawson Morrow achieved all of their qualifying times to move on to compete in the Swim Ulster Spring Meet.

Among Bann’s 25 young swimmers on show, there were also many personal bests, and a number of swimmers achieved at least one of their three qualifying times.

Each of the Bann swimmers should be very proud of themselves - the club certainly is.

The youngest of the swimmers competing were the nine year olds.

In the girls group for Bann were Ciara Daly and Megan Williams. Both girls competed really well, achieving personal bests in all of their events.

The nine year old boys included Bailey Breen, Caelan McCracken and Pearse Rice. Bailey had an outstanding day, picking up three medals, second in 200m Breaststroke in a time of 3.45.70 and also his first qualifying time. He also picked up two third place medals in 200IM and 100m Free. Caelan and Pearse swam well with a number of personal bests each.

The 10 year old girls swimmers included Ellie Bingham, Alana Burns-Atkin, Dia McCrory, Sarah McEvoy and Holly McKibben.

Ellie Bingham had a great day, competing in four events. She swam outstandingly well in the 200m backstroke, where she picked up a gold medal and achieved not only her first qualifying time but also a Division Two time of 3.10.26.

Alana, Dia, Sarah and Holly all swam well achieving a number of personal best times each.

The 10 year old boys swimming included Carter Bell, Daniel Crowe – who was swimming in development for the first time – Jack Dougan, Isaac Forsythe and Peter McGrath.

Isaac, who already holds a Division Two time, took the gold medal in the 100M free in a time of 1.21.91 and silver in 200IM in a time of 3.23.71. These times mean he has all his necessary qualifying times which moves him out of Development Galas.

The other boys all achieved personal best times and all swam really well.

The 11 year old boys included Senan Carr, Taylor Hill, Tom King, Jack Lennon, Matthew McKee, Christopher Mahood and Lawson Morrow – this is a very strong group of boys.

Senan already holds a Division Two for his 100M breaststroke, and achieved another in Lisburn, this time in the 200M breaststroke in a time of 3.37.23. He also picked up a silver medal for this outstanding swim.

Taylor swam well also picking up a bronze medal in the 200IM in a time of 3.17.52. He also achieved two more qualifying times so he will be moving on from the Qualifying Galas in February.

Joining Taylor are Tom King and Lawson Morrow who had a really great day achieving all three of their qualifying times. Matthew McKee also picked up two silver medals in the 100M back crawl and 200IM. Both these swims were also qualifying times and his 100M back crawl time of 1.28.39 is a Division Two time.

Jack Lennon also picked up his second qualifying time is the 200M breaststroke in a time of 3.43.78. Senan, Matthew and Jack all just need one more qualifying time each to progress.

The final group of girls were 12 year old Aisling Fusciardi and Oriana Thompson and 14 year old Charlotte Farson.

All girls swam well and achieved personal best times across all their swims. Charlotte picked up two medals – a bronze in the 200M freestyle in a time of 2.40.13 and also a silver medal in the 400m freestyle in a time of 5.51.11.

The club sent huge congratulations to all swimmers for competing. There was success at all ages groups and in all strokes. Credit to the coaches, their hard work, time and dedication to the swimmers is certainly paying off. They also sent thanks to all the parents who turned up to support.

And thanks was paid to the many parents who volunteered on the day, including Lorraine Allenby as referee, Michael Breen and Alison Lennon as timekeepers, Gina Quinn as starter, Martin Daly and Rodney Bingham as turn judges, Donna Morrow and Tom Farson on computer.

The next Development Gala is on 27th February in Omagh.