Today marked the penultimate day of the 2023 Irish Youth and Senior Summer Nationals at the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre, a competition hosting 1125 swimmers from 120 clubs.
The Women’s 800 Freestyle Relay was the first medal opportunity of the day and it was Limerick taking the gold back down the M7 motorway as Leanna Liddane, Ella Carroll, Hannah O’Connor and Olwyn Cooke clocked a combined 8:50.01. Eva Bayley, Ava Rock, Ruth Kelly and Leagh Bailey placed second in 8:55.27 while in third was Sunday Wells (Ellen Lee, Isabel Kidney, Beth Nolan, Sharon Semchiy) with a time of 9:00.90.
The Women’s 100 Freestyle opened this evening’s proceedings with Trojan swimmers Sofia O’Niell and Abril Allende going head-to-head in the 15 yrs final. O’Neill clocked 1:01.20 to take the national gold while a commemorative medal was awarded to Allende (1:01.18). Holly McInerney of Templeogue went 1:01.49 to take silver, Jane Ryan of Athlone went 1:02.04 to claim the national bronze medal.
In the 16 yrs Olivia Miskelly was first to touch to take the national gold with a time of 59.92, going .72 quicker than her morning heat to ensure she went under the minute mark. In second place to claim the silver was City of Derry swimmer, Maeve McClean (1:00.98) with bronze going to Clare Doherty (Sligo) in 1:01.46. The 17 yrs gold went to Leagh Bailey of New Ross, the Wexford woman clocked 59.27 on her way to gold, finishing closely behind was Leanna Liddane in 59.56 to claim silver, the bronze went to Abigail Minto (Templeogue) with 1:00.04.
All ten swimmers in the 18 yrs and over thrashed through the National Aquatic Centre water with Rosie Phelan (57.92) of Cormorant touching first, Maria Godden (National Centre Limerick) touched next in 58.06, third place went to National Centre (Ulster) swimmer Mollie McAlorum in a time of 58.26.
There was a change of events as the Men’s 400 Freestyle was next on the schedule with the crowd were treated to a sprint finish in the 15 yrs between Paddy Cuddihy (4:14.80) and Ian Middelton (4:15.74) with the Kilkenny man pipping Glenalbyn’s Middleton to gold. Andrew Mullen went 4:20.16 to bring the bronze back to Templeogue. The 16 yrs gold went to Noah Switzer of Dolphin, who clocked 4:16.42 on his way to first place, Daniel Harvey (Ards) in the outside lane went 4:17.43 to win silver with third place claimed by Dominic Hilton (4:20.16) of Trojan. Visitor, Rohayem Tolba of Hamilton went 4:06.70 to claim a commemorative medal.
The 17 yrs was staying in Dublin 15 as Coolmine swimmer Killia Brophy O’Loughlin went 4:15.39 to claim gold, Sean Bulger (4:17.14) of Sunday Wells was next to touch, clocking 4:25.57 to take bronze home was Robert Mullen of Templeogue. Evan Bailey of New Ross dominated the 18 yrs final with a time of 4:02.82, his nearest competitors were Adam Colgan (Lisburn) in 4:08.79 and Cormac Rynn (Trident) in 4:09.21, all three swimmers going quicker than their morning swim.
Nathan Wiffen (Larne) completed a hattrick of golds this week with a first place finish in the 19 yrs and over final, Wiffen went under the four-minute mark for the second consecutive time today, clocking 3:56.09. Jack Fleming went 4:03.76 to take the silver back to Lisburn, third place went to Kilkenny swimmer, Aidan Cook (4:17.67).
The Women’s 200 Butterfly was next up with the 15 yrs taking to the blocks first, Emilie Edgar (Lisburn) went 2:28.59 to claim the national gold, Trojan swimmer, Hannah Poyton (2:32.67) claiming silver, while Eva Hand (Bangor) went 2:34.19 in third.
Hannah Mulloy clocked 2:26.90 to claim the 16 yrs national gold, Eva Bayley (New Ross) was next to touch with 2:31.35, while in third was Cathy McCabe (2:38.71) of Glenalbyn. The 17 yrs national title went to Eva Bailey of Ballymena with a time of 2:25.77, Aer Lingus swimmer, Emma Marriage (2:31.37) was next to touch with 2:31.37 Sunday Wells swimmer Sharon Semchiy went quickest in the 18 and over claim gold, clocking 2:21.12, silver went to Hannah O’Shea (2:22.07) of Dolphin, while Hannah McCabrey (Lurgan) went 2:27.26 to place third.
Sticking with the butterfly event, the Men’s 200 Butterfly was next with the 15 yrs national gold going to Ben Wilson (2:17.68) of Ards, Reuben Agbaje (Bangor) went 2:25.26 in second and third place went to ESB swimmer Nate Cahill (2:25.52). In the 16 yrs, it was Matthew Hamilton (Lisburn) going quickest with 2:09.54 to win gold, Alex Barrett (2:14.55) was next to touch to bring the silver back to Blackrock, Donnacha McCarthy (New Ross) went 2:14.88 to take the third podium place.
Liam Og Mathers (Banbridge) was the national champion for the 17 yrs gold with 2:13.49, Matthew McAviney (Kilkenny) was next to touch claiming silver with 2:19.19, bronze went to Larne swimmer, David Leggett (2:20.75). Ronan Kilcoyne (National Centre Limerick) touched the wall in 2:06.38 to claim the 18 yrs gold, Ben Moran (Aer Lingus) was next home with 2:10.21 while third place went to Cian Mason (Kingdom) with 2:13.14.
Jack Cassin continued his impressive form this week in the lead into the u23 Europeans, the National Centre (Limerick) swimmer claimed gold in the 19 yrs and older event with 1:59.53, breaking the two-minute mark. Cassin’s Centre teammate, Brogan McAviney went 2:06.85 to claim silver, bronze going to Adam Wilson (Banbridge) in a time of 2:09.07.
The Women’s 50 Breaststroke gold went to National Centre (Limerick) swimmer Eimear Doyle (32.43), pipping Molly Mayne (32.50) of Templeogue by .7 seconds to take the top podium position. Limerick’s Olwyn Cooke was next to touch claiming national bronze in a time of 33.02.
The last race of the evening was the Men’s 50 Breaststroke, a race that featured London 2012 Olympian Barry Murphy. It the young and upcoming Eoin Corby (National Centre Limerick) that came out on top, pipping veteran Murphy with 28.38, Murphy (28.68) added a national silver to his collection. Another young promising swimmer on the podium was Liam O’Connor of Terenure. O’Connor went 29.39 to claim bronze. Both Corby and O’Connor will feature in a fortnight for Ireland at the U23 European Championships.
