Delighted to see our TEAM TSC athletes deliver some superb swims today at the Leinster Open Graded Championships (previously called Leinster Division 2’s). Having opened the meet this year it was a welcome addition to have travelling teams from clubs around the country compete at this event.
This is one of the final chances to qualify for Leinster Age Group & Open Championships at the end of May so athletes were racing fast either to gain new experience at this level of meet or to qualify for the next stage of racing at the Long Course event at month end.
The morning dived in with the boys 200FC where Sam Flanagan (9) and Richard McCarthy (13) set out there intentions for the day as they smashed previous PB’s and finished in 4th in their age groups. Next up was the Girls 100BC where Aine Goulding (10), Ola Ogonowska (9), Rachel Roe (11) & Kate Saunders (9) also delivered substantial PB’s in there event.
In the boys Breaststroke event Conor Kenny (9) served up a 3 second improvement in his event to post a strong PB and a 5th place finish. In the next girls event Hannah Walshe (11) powered through her 200BF in a superbly skilful display to finish in first place in her age group. Continuing the PB trend for the day saw the two young 9yr olds Sam Flanagan and Conor Kenny delivered 7 & 6 second improvements in their 200BC swims and Kenny in 4th and Flanagan in 6th place overall.
Following earlier successful PB’s Aine Goulding (10), Rachel Roe (11), Kate Saunders (9) and Ola Ogonowska (9) strongly delivered more PB’s in the 100FC while Mia Whelan-O’Connor (9) picked up a huge PB and some great experience in her first event at this level.
Back on the block were Conor Kenny (9) & Richard McCarthy (13) who swam to podium positions enroute to new PB’s with both boys finishing in in silver position in their age groups. In the final girls events of the morning Ava Gilligan (14) powered her way to a PB in the 200BS before smashing a big PB and finishing on top of the podium in the Gold medal in the 400FC. As the boys concluded the morning Conor Kenny (9) & Richard McCarthy (13) both finished in style with PB’s and Gold medal podium finishes in the 200IM in their respective age groups.

In the afternoon session the fruitful swims continued as the TEAM athlete performance saw more PB’s and podium finishes.

First event of the afternoon saw Kate Saunders (9) & Ava Gilligan (14) continue the PB trail with both girls converting strong swims to Win gold in their age groups, where Gilligan also delivered the added bonus of qualifying for Leinster Age Group & Open Championships.

Plum Swims and Fruitful DAY for the CREW!!

Next swims of the day saw Cian Whittaker (11) &  David Corcoran (9) swim to great new PB’s while Sam Flanagan (9) also converted another big swim to finish in 6th place in his age group.
Kate Saunders (9), Aine Goulding (10) and Ava Gilligan (14) all swam PB’s with Gilligan an agonising 4th place in the Girls 100BS, while another team athlete Emily Rossiter (9) swam strongly to secure a podium finish in second place, silver medal in her BS event.
The boys too were happy as the session progressed when Cian Whittaker (11) finished in a new PB and 10th place in his age, while David Corcoran (9) also posted a new PB while Sam Flanagan (9) was 6th overall in his age group in another PB. Hannah Walshe (11) posted another PB and podium performance in the shorter 100BF event finishing in 2nd place. In the final event of the day Emily Rossiter (9) delivered a fine first time performance in the 200IM as she posted a PB and finished in 5th place in her age group, while Hannah Walshe (11) finished her day with another PB and a podium finish as she finished in 3rd place in her age group.
Overall the day was a really successful one for the TEAM TSC athletes, with another strong performance across the events by multiple athletes in the squad.
Well done to all.