The 2016 Antrim Championships took place over the weekend in Larne Leisure Centre. Thirteen local swimmers made the 200 miles round trip – some on both Saturday and Sunday.
Continuing in her great run of form was Sorcha Lavelle (14) who competed in four events at the Antrim Championships and winning a tally of two gold medals and a bronze medal.
Her first swim was the 400m Individual Medley where she achieved a four second PB beating her nearest opponent by 12 seconds to take the gold. Following this was the 50m Open breaststroke heats in which the top six girls times qualify for the Skins Knockout Finals and with a few exciting rounds to swim she finished a fantastic third place rewarded with a bronze medal and also a cash prize. 
Next up was the 200m breaststroke again winning by a large margin and securing her second gold of the day. Lastly up was the 50m freestyle in which she got a new PB.
 Next weekend Sorcha will compete at the Irish Open Swimming Championships at the NAC in Dublin.
Jack Maravelakis was on top form over the two days at Larne, winning two gold medals and again slashing his PBs in his events 200m breaststroke (2.44.95), 100m breaststroke (1.17.82) & 50m breaststroke (34.71).
Ellie McCartney had only turned 11 this month and swam in a competitive 11-12 group. She returned to Enniskillen with a gold in the 200m breaststroke and a silver in the 100m breaststroke as well as finishing sixth in the 100m freestyle. Tougher times lie ahead for Ellie and like all swimmers who are hoping to win medals and qualifying times she knows that more hard work and determination is required.
Kealan McShea attended on the second day of the meet entering three races in the 13-14 yr old age group. His first event the 400m IM saw him swim to a bronze medal. He followed this up with a top 10 place in the 200m IM in a time of 2.44.09 a new PB by 4.77secs. In the final race of long day Kealan had a strong swim to take gold in his favourite event the 100m backcrawl.
Ben Lynch competed in four events and had top ten finishes in all. It was his first time ever competing in the 400m IM were he finished in a time of 6.08mins and won the gold Medal.
Lewis McCartney entered the championships in search of more Irish Age Group Division Two times and came away with three out of four times. Fantastic freestyle swims in the 400m and 200m events saw Lewis missed out on medals finishing in the top five in each event but with the all-important qualifying time. His third time came in the 100m breaststroke.
Brother and sister Connor and Tara McKenzie had a busy weekend. Saturday saw Connor and Tara’s first time attending Larne Leisure Centre and Connor competed in 100m breaststroke, 400 freestyle and 100m freestyle. Connor had PBs in all and gained another Division Two time. Not to be outdone Tara competed in 100m fly, 200m IM and 200m breaststroke again getting PBs in all and a Division Two time.
Jake Cadden (10) enjoyed competing at the gala. He achieved third  in the breaststroke with a PB of 1.43.09 narrowly missing his fourth Division Two time by 200th of a second. Jake also swam in the 400m freestyle for the first time and received a PB of 6.15.43.
Anna McDaid and Annabel Morrison were the youngest Lakelanders who attended the event and experienced great success on the day. 
Anna swam 100m breaststroke, 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle. She achieved PBs in all of her events, particularly in her 100m freestyle where she sliced a massive 25 seconds of her time!
Annabel Morrison swam 100m breaststroke, 50m fly & 100m freestyle and achieved two PBs, having a great performance in her breaststroke with a time less than one second away from a Irish Division 2 time.
The McLean bothers from Irvinestown - Brett (12) and Connor (10) began the Saturday morning session by swimming PBs in 200m backstroke. Both boys then swam 100m breaststroke, 50m backstroke and finished the long day with PBs in 100 freestyle. Brett narrowly missed a bronze medal by 0.27 secs in this event in a large competitive field for his age group, although obtaining a third Div Two time in this event alleviated this. Brett who trains only 5-6 hours per week, which is less than half of that trained by some of his counterparts, hopes to gain more qualification times and improve further before the Irish Division Two Championships in Limerick.
Rachel Evans had her best weekend for some time scoring Personal Best times in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events. Carla Ryan, 12, swam in the 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, finishing with PBs in both events. Overall this was a fantastic event, well organised and well attended.