Longford Swimming Club

Longford Swimmer Ciara McNevin selected for
Irish Schools' Swim Team

Congratulations to talented Longford swimmer Ciara McNevin on her selection on the Irish School's Swimming Team.This is indeed a fantastic honour forpromising young athlete. Ciara, a first year student in Scoil Mhuire Longford, had a brilliant weekend at the Irish Secondary Schools Finals in the Douglas Swimming Pool, Cork last weekend. She was our only medallist winning a Gold in the Junior Girls 100m Freestyle event.Ciara will travel along with other members of the Irish squad to Scotland on the 18th/19th March to compete in WISE International Schools' Competition. Congratulations to Ciara, and also to her parents Ronan and Deirdre McNevin on this fantastic achievement.

This event 100m Freestyle is always a tough one.However Ciarato leave all opposition with absolutely no chance of catching her.was top seed going into the final of this event in a time of 1.03.66, over a second faster than her nearest rival. In her final she pushed from the beginning. She was the first to hit the wall on the initial 25m and from there on she increased her lead with each length swam. Her finishing time 1.03.09 was a new personal best. It was a super performance and Ciara representing Scoil Mhuire, Longford was crowned 2010Ireland 100m Freestyle Champion. Ciara was also placed 4th in the final of 100m Backstroke and narrowly missed out on a second medal. Well done Ciara on this fantastic and well deserved achievement!

Longford Schools were well represented at this prestigious competition in Cork. St. Mel's College had two swimmers Daniel Mimnagh and Darragh Greene. Daniel swam in Senior Boys Category and was indeed unfortunate not to get a medal in 100m Breaststroke. Daniel swam a new personal best time 1.10.66 which gave him 4th place overall in Ireland and in doing so gained a place on the Connacht Region Team. Daniel also swam in 200m Individual Medley and clocked a 3 second PB 2.21.30- well done !Darragh Greene swam in Junior Boys 100m Breaststroke and again was placed 4th in the final in a time of 1.20.61 - a great achievement given the high standard displayed on the day.

Scoil Mhuire Longford was well represented at theseIreland Championships. Swimming in Individual events for the school were Ciara Flynn, Rachel Ward and Leia Valentine. Leia swam in 100m Breaststroke, Intermediate section, and having made the final of thisLeia was placed 5th overall in a time of 1.19.20. Rachel Ward swam in both 100m Backstroke and 100m Breaststroke and againa great performance. Ciara Flynn swam in Junior 100m Backstroke and was unfortunate not to get a place in the final. Scoil Mhuire had a girls Junior Freestyle relay team - Orlaigh O'Brien, Rachel Donnelly, Ciara Flynn, Ella McNevin and Ciara McNevin. These girls had a combined performance that left them in 4th position overall.

Mercy Secondary School Ballymahon had five swimmers representing them at this national event. Sarah O'Boyle swam in Junior section 100m Breaststroke and 200m individual medley. Brian O'Boyle swam in the Junior boys 100m Backstroke and 200m Individual. Peter O'Boyle swam Senior Boys 100m Backstroke. Kate O'Boyle swam in the Senior girls 100m Butterfly6th in the finalin the senior girls 100m Backstroke was placed 7th overall. Siobhan Ryan swam in the Intermediate section and was place 5th in 100m Backstroke final and only narrowly missed out on a place in the 100m freestyle final.

A huge well done to all swimmers who competed. They can be very proud ofachievements, as competition at this level of swimming is extremely tough. We are very proud of all our swimmers who travelled to Cork for this weekend- it is in itself a huge achievement to get the qualifying time to be enabled to compete in this event. To all the parents and families for the huge support given to the swimmers and also to the coach -Ronan McNevin for his commitment, early mornings and encouragement -a big Thank You!

Good Luck to all Dolphin swimmers who will be competing in Graded Gala in Ballinasloe next Saturday, 20th. Warm up 5.30pm.

Reminder to Sharks swimmers: Long Course training in NAC next Saturday 6-8pm.