Well it had to happen, the FINAL day of racing at the Swim Ireland Irish Age Group Division 2 Championships today at the UL SPORT ARENA in Limerick. After 3 great days of racing, the TEAM TSC Athletes hit the pool again this morning to continue their impressive set of results or this event and yet again didn’t disappoint.

First on the block this morning was the girls 400FC, giving the boys a well earned morning rest. Having already posted impressive PB’s this weekend Megan Culbert (13) and Caroline Ryan (14) continued as they lieft off yesterday with strong swims posting 7 second and 14 second PB’s with Ryan capping a fantastic weekend of racing with a SILVER medal in the process.

Next event of the morning was the 200BS with 11yo boys Daniel Martinez-Dunn & Sean Kenny posting strong PB’s in morning heats to both qualify or the finals this evening.  Both boys again raced tough tonight to further improve on their early morning times to round out the day with Kenny finishing in 6th place and a 12 second improvement while Martinez-Dunn finished in 7th place and a strong 5 second PB in his event.  After a strong set of PB’s in previous days Greg Sinnott (14) posted another 12 second improvement in his 200BS while the oldest team member racing this weekend Traolach McKnight (16) posted a superbly judged Heat swim to qualify as the fastest swimmer for the final this evening, where he further improved his earlier PB to win GOLD in the event a complete a great weekend of racing and a consistent performances for him, delivering a PB swim in EVERY one of his races, something delivered by many of the athletes this weekend.

In the Girls Breastroke event Caroline Ryan (14) returned another fine PB swim with a 5 second improvement, while Alie Martin (13) also added to her tally for the weekend with a great swim improving her previous best by 7 seconds. The fastest girl on this event for the TEAM was Megan Culbert (13) who posted an 8 second PB in the heats to qualify for the final this evening where she smashed that swim to take a further 4 seconds off and finish in the GOLD medal position to cap a fantastic weekend of results for her.

The PB’s and great swims continued as Ronan Tan (11) and Jamie Flanagan (11) raced to a Reserve place in the final for Tan and a strong PB finish for Flanagan to qualify for the final.  Tonight Flanagan further finished the race with another big PB, smashing the 1:10 barrier in the process and finishing in 4th place overall.  Sean Kenny (11) after his impressive earlier PB in the Breastroke also posted a strong NEW PB in his 100FC also.

In the 12/13yr boys Ethan Brady (12) posted a NEW PB to cap a strong weekend of racing, while Sean Maguire (13) was impressive as he produced another skilful display in the heats to improve his PB by 5 seconds and earn him a place in the final this evening.  Not being happy with 5 seconds, Maguire was delighted with his additional improvement of a further second to finish in the BRONZE medal position, which was a well earned result for this skilful swimmer.

In the older age groups Matthew Parnell (15) posted a well raced PB in his 100FC with a well judged race to ensure he got his hand on the wall to out touch his competition in a tough heat.

The final Individual event of the weekend saw the girls too step on the block in their Sprint FC event where Leah Martin (11) posted a strong Heat swim to qualify for the final where she finished in 6th place and capping off an impressive weekend for her.   Her Sister Alie Martin (13) also posted a great new PB but was unfortunately disqualified after an infringement at the start, but was happy with the time nonetheless.

The final events this evening of the weekend were some relays where the TEMPLEOGUE TEAM also produced some fantastic swims to post both a SILVER Medal (GIRLS – Caroline Ryan, Alie Martin, Megan Culbert & Leah Martin), while the Boys picked up a BRONZE Medal (BOYS ‘A’ – Greg Sinnott, Sean Mauire, Ethan Brady & Matthew Parnell) and a further 5th place (BOYS ‘B’ – Ronan Tan, Sean Kennt, Daniel Martinez-Dunn & Jamie Flanagan)

The Weekend was a great success for the young squad and a credit to their coaches Peter Sherry and Colm O’Brien, who have worked strongly with this group all season.  The Weekend was fantastic to be part of and thanks to TEAM Managers Ian Flanagan & Shirley Martin on their work over the weekend to ensure the TEAM performed at its best.  

The TEAM were a credit to themselves with their energy, good humour and positivity all weekend and their support of each other and laughing and smiling a welcome representation of their friendship and team spirit (not to mention the bad dancing!!).  Finally a huge thanks to ALL their parents for the support they show their children ongoing in this great support, and for all the help officiating and support they showed this weekend to the team as a whole.  WELL DONE ALL!

This GREAT team finished the weekend with 

• 68 PB’s
• 7 GOLD MEDALS
• 9 SILVER MEDALS
• 14 BRONZE MEDALS
• 3 x 4th
• 1 x 5th
• 2 x 6th
• 1 x 7th
• 1 x 8th
• 32 TOP TEN FINISHED
• LOTS OF SMILES