American’s Dominate Day 2 of Irish Swimming Championships
It was a clean sweep across all six individual finals and the two relays for the American swimmers from the National Club Swimming Association (NCSA) on the second day of competition at the Irish Open Swimming Championships. The American’s were first to touch in all events and provided some great racing for their Irish counterparts.
Alex Lebed was the first American to grab gold when he won the Men’s 400m Individual Medley Final in 4:25.67. Aer Lingus’ Ben Griffin retained the Irish title for the second year, he posted a time of 4:34.30 to hold off Galway’s Andrew Moore who powered through the final 100 metres to finish in 4:35.95. In the women’s event UCD’s Shani Stallard claimed the Irish title in 4:59.29 but it was NCSA’s Ruby Martin who touched first in 4:50.98.
Caroline McTaggart won the women’s 50m Butterfly Final ahead of Irish Record holder Shauna O’Brien. McTaggart’s time of 27.02 was enough to keep O’Brien in second as she touched in 27.19 seconds. Earlier today Emma Reid of Ards SC set a new Irish Junior Record in the event knocking .06 of a second off O’Brien’s 2011 record.
Calum Bain took the Irish Title in the Men’s 50m Butterfly Final in 25.19 seconds with just .08 of second separating the top three swimmers. NCSA’s Ian Finnerty took the top spot in 25.15 while Tallaght’s Brendan Hyland was third in 25.23.
15 year old Danielle Hill broke her second Irish Junior Record in as many days in the Women’s 100m Backstroke Final. Having broken Jane Roberts 2013 Record of 1:04.22 in the semi-final yesterday, Hill took almost half a second off the time in tonight’s final touching in 1:03.72, the time also secured her the Irish Title.
The NCSA swimmers controlled the men’s 100m Backstroke Final. Michael Taylor led the way for a first to fourth placing for the team posting a time of 56.20 while Ennis’ Rory McEvoy was crowned national champion in 58.45.
Following Thursday’s World Championships qualification Alex Murphy continued his good form to make tomorrow’s 100m Breaststroke Final in 1:03.62, just behind NCSA’s Ethan Browne (1:03.08). The NSCA women dominated the women’s semi-finals taking the top four spots for tomorrow’s final, they were led by Olivia Anderson in 1:10.49.
Ards swimmer Curtis Coulter and UCD’s David Prendergast ruled the men’s 100m Freestyle semi-final, with just .01 of a second separating the two tomorrow evenings final will be an exciting event. Coulter’s team mate at Ards, Bethany Firth, will be the fastest Irish qualifier in the women’s event after clocking 57.15 seconds in the semi-final.
Friday night’s final event saw the American’s complete their sweep with wins in the men’s and women’s 800m Freestyle Relays. The men won in 7:33.69 while the women touched in 8:14.06.
Elsewhere, open water swimmer Chris Bryan competes tomorrow at the FINA Open Water World Cup in Cozumel, Mexico. Bryan will swim the 10 kilometre event at 5pm Irish time.
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Day 2 Results
Men 400m IM Final: 1st A Lebed NCSA 4:25.67 2nd B Brennan NCSA 4:30.09 3rd J Ress NCSA 4:31.20 5th B Griffin Aer Lingus 4:34.30
Women 400m IM Final: 1st R Martin NCSA 4:50.98 2nd E Pfeifer NCSA 4:51.34 3rd S Stallard UCD 4:59.29
Men 100m Backstroke Final: 1st M Taylor NCSA 56.20 2nd J Shebat 56.33 3rd B Balogh NCSA 58.00 5th R McEvoy Ennis 58.45
Women 100m Backstroke Final: 1st H Whiteley NCSA 1:02.89 2nd L Nordmann NCSA 1:02.93 3rd D Hill Larne 1:03.72
Men 50m Butterfly Final: 1st I Finnerty NCSA 25.15 2nd C Bain Cookstown 25.19 3rd B Hyland Tallaght 25.23
Women 50m Butterfly Final: 1st C McTaggart NCSA 27.02 2nd S O’Brien UCD 27.19 3rd B Firth Ards 27.62
Men 4x200m Freestyle Team Relay: 1st NCSA 7:33.69 2nd NCSA 7:42.14 3rd NCSA 7:46.97 4th Bangor 7:54.30
Women 4x200m Freestyle Team Relay: 1st NCSA A 8:14.06 2nd NCSA B 8:22.66 3rd NCSA C 8:31.66 4th Ards 8:42.28
Qualification Times Met (selection of athletes for all events (except European Games) will be made at a later date)
European Games, 23rd – 27th June 2015, Baku, Azerbaijan (Final Selection made on 23/04/15)
Natasha MacManus (Diving) Rory McEvoy, Rachel Bethel, Mona McSharry, Iseult Hayes, Danielle Hill, Niamh Kilgallen, Emma Reid, Andrew Moore, James Brown, Alan Corby, Benjamin Doyle, Katie Baguley.
World University Games, 4th – 11th July 2015, Gwangju, South Korea
Qualifiers: Sycerika McMahon, Fiona Doyle, Christopher Bryan, Jordan Sloan, Shauna O’Brien, Alex Murphy, Grainne Murphy, Dan Sweeney, Nicholas Quinn.
European Youth Olympic Festival, 26th July – 1st August 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia
Qualifiers: Antoinette Neamt, Niamh Coyne, Ellen Walsh, Rebecca Reid, Conor Ferguson, Emma Moloney.
FINA World Swimming & Open Water Championships, 25th July – 9th August 2015, Kazan, Russia
Qualifiers: Sycerika McMahon, Fiona Doyle, Christopher Bryan (Open Water), Alex Murphy.
World Junior Swimming Championships, 25th – 30th August 2015, Singapore
Qualifiers: Conor Ferguson, Antoinette Neamt, Rachel Bethel.
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