The 2023 Irish Age Group Championships reached the penultimate day with a full house treated to another action-packed day of fast racing in the University of Limerick.
Similar to previous days, the realys were the first opportunity of the day for medal success, with the Mixed 200 Free Relay first to the blocks. Bangor Swimming Club clocked a combined time of 2:06.56 to take the 12 yrs national gold, 2:09.14 clocked by Glenalbyn was enough for silver, with bronze staying in Limerick (2:09.16). The 13-14 Mixed Relay gold was claimed by Sunday Wells in a time of 4:04.18 in a great battle against Trojan (4:04.80) and Banbridge (4:06.41).
Moving onto the distance event this afternoon, the Boys 800 Freestyle, Harry McGlashan (Lurgan) claimed the 13 yrs national gold in a time of 9:52.46, Garvan Gillard (Blackrock) claimed silver in 10:29.37, with the bronze going to Eoin Connery (10:51.17) of Shark. Two commemorative medals were awarded to Baltazar Allende (9:10.19) of Trojan and Artem Kovalenko (9:49.70) of NAC. In the 14 yrs, Dylan Brady (Drogheda) clocked 9:17.64 to pick up gold, with John Raphael Rada (Banbridge) taking silver in 9:26.07, bronze went to Dolphin’s Tadgh O’Brien (9.27.19).
There was another electric atmosphere in the UL Sport Arena as the Boys 100 Freestyle got this evening’s proceedings underway. Lev Lobanets (Blackrock) claimed the 12 yrs gold with a time of 1:04.97, Anton Niuewoudt (Limerick) picked up silver swimming in his home pool with a time of 1:06.15, with the bronze picked up by AJ Rodriguez Mendoza (1:06.70) of Glenalbyn. The 13 yrs gold went to Riley Brown (Ballymena) in a time of 58.40, Ards’ Ben McGrady came home in 1:00.80 with James Gourley (Cookstown) finishing third in 1:01.06). There were two more commemorative medals to Baltazar Allende (57.79) and Artem Kovalenko (59.84).
The final age group of the Boys 100 Free was the 14 yrs with the gold going to Dawid Stachera (Trojan) in a time of 56.78, Leander’s Jan Boersma clocked 57.40 on his way to silver with bronxe going to Scott Duda of Longford (58.31).
Next up on the schedule was the Girls 400 Freestyle as Julia Dziedzic of Aer Lingus was first home in the 13yrs, clocking 4:55.55. Neysa Connolly of Galway bagged silver (5:01.20), with the medal up for grabs going to another Aer Lingus swimmer, Lucie O’Keeffe (5:02.64). The 14 yrs gold wasn’t going far as Limerick’s Lucy O’Brien claimed it in 4:43.13, Lexi Dunne (Dolphin) added as silver to her collection in a time of 4:47.14, while the bronze went to Abby Cunningham (Kilkenny) in a time of 4:49.48, Dixie Dot Turner-Moore (Lisburn) was awarded a commemorative medal.
The atmosphere showed no signs of faltering in Limerick as the Boys 200 Breaststroke finalists took to the blocks. Marco Frasarin (Glenalbyn) came home in 3:14.30 to take gold, while Dan McBride (Templeogue) bagged silver in 3:15.40, while Simon Geraghty took the bronze back to Galway in 3:16.91. There was another medal going to Ballymena, this time it was gold in the 13 yrs event as Riley Brown touched in 2:50.02, shortly behind was Evan Houston (2:50.12) of Larne by just 0.10 seconds, Cian Doyle (Lurgan) was also not too far behind (2:50.23). The 14 yrs final was won by Daire Finlayson (Glenalbyn) in a time of 2:37.78, Emilian Petrea (2:37.98) of Trojan took the silver back to Dublin while Joseph Monaghan (Shark) clocked 2:43.40 to take the bronze.
The thrilling racing kept coming as we moved onto the Girls 100 Backstroke, Emma Kwan (Swim Belfast) clocked 1:14.70 to take national honours in the 12 yrs race, Sian McCrohan (Trojan) claimed the silver in 1:17.09, with in third place was Katie Buckley (Terenure) touching in 1:19.15. In the 13 yrs, Eavan Ramsay came home in 1:11.74 on her way to gold, her next competitor, Georgia May Agnew (Trojan) clocked 1:12.11, with Sylvie Marely (Templeogue) finishing in 1:14.22 to take third.
There was a real battle for national honours in the 14 yrs with four swimmers going under the 1.10-mark, top spot was claimed by Caoilinn O’Connor (Sunday Wells) in 1:09.35 with Chloe Dawnay coming in closely behind in a time of 1:09.72, Leah Jacobs (Lurgan) clocked 1:09.86 to take the bronze medal.
The Boys 100 Backstroke was up next in Limerick as Anton Nieuwoudt (Limerick) added the 12 yrs gold medal to his weekend collection in a time of 1:14.21, going 1.34 seconds than this morning. Another familiar face on the podium, Lev Lobanets (Blackrock) bagged silver in 1:15.04, while AJ Rodriguez Mendoza (Glenalbyn) claimed bronze in 1:18.65. The 13 yrs gold national medal went to Shea Mathers (Banbridge) who dropped an impressive 3.67 seconds (1:09.15). Fiachra Redington of Athlone came in at 1:09.63 to finish second, while Riley Brown (Ballymena) clocked 1:09.69.
The 14 yrs was a tightly contested affair with gold going back to Longford with Scott Duda in 1:05.56, Bjarne Laudon finished in 1:05.81 to take silver, with third place claimed by Leon Biss (Swim Belfast) in 1:05.88.
The Girls 200 Breaststroke event would be the last of the evening with the UL Sport Arena still packed to the rafters, Ella Kanis-Dickson (Portadown) claimed the 12 yrs gold in strong fashion, clocking 3:09.12. Mia Walsh (Limerick) came home in 3:17.61 and claim the silver, finishing behind Walsh in third was Mary Jane Morris (3:18.34) of Asgard. In the 13 yrs race, Grace Eyre headed to the top spot on the podium with a time of 2:25.77, her closest competitor was Rene Malley (3:03.81) of Dolphin and Eimear O’Neill (3:04.63) of Cookstown.
Banbridge claimed the top two spots on the podium in the 14 yrs event with Georgina Walker clocking 2:46.13 on her way to gold and Samantha Burns-Atkin bagging silver in 2:48.48, Lucy O’Brien of Limerick claimed at the bronze with 2:49.08.
