A strong team of Lakelanders impressed at the first Swim Ulster Qualifying Meet of the season at the Lagan Valley LeisurePlex where more than 1,800 entries were accepted in 34 events over three days.
Ellie McCartney competed in 12 events over the Meet and returned home with 11 medals; five gold, two silver and four bronze. Once again the 12 year old dominated her age group in the breaststroke events – 50m, 100m and 200m – competing in the fastest heats against other females up to 26 years old and coming out with faster times on many occasions. Another gold came in her favoured 200m IM with a fifth unexpectedly in the 50m freestyle. Silver medals followed in the 100m IM and the 100m freestyle with PBs in both. Ellie’s best performance of the weekend came in the longer distance of 400m freestyle where she recorded a fantastic time of 4.54.24 to win a bronze medal allowing Ellie to show her versatility. 
Other bronze medals followed in the 50m backcrawl, 100m backcrawl and the 200m freestyle with the results qualifying Ellie for the Ulster Short Course, Dave McCullagh and the Ulster Age Groups.
Kealan McShea (15) had a positive start to the season competing in six events over the weekend. He took home two silver medals in the 100m and 200m backstroke - both with new PBs. He had strong swims in the 200m IM, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle (six seconds PB) and 100m butterfly (four seconds PB).
Jake Cadden (12) had a very successful day with some good PBs. His first race the 200m backcrawl saw Jake swim in a time of 2.48.35 dropping 1.30 seconds and placing fourth. Next up was the 100m freestyle where he dropped almost two seconds to finish in a time of 1.11.81. The last race of the morning was the 50m backcrawl and a time of 37.34 placed him first for a gold medal. Jake swam the 400m freestyle in the afternoon with a time of 5.36.40 which saw him achieve a huge PB of 39.03.
Ben Lynch, 13, competed in eight events over the weekend and was happy to come away with six PBs and bronze medals in the 400m freestyle and 400m IM.
15 year old Caitlin Love swam in nine events on the advice of her coach, a range of freestyle and IM events. Caitlin secured top 10 finishes in all events with notable PBs in 800m free where she won a silver medal, 400IM (4th) and 200m freestyle (4th). These PBs have ensured that Caitlin secured qualifying standards for the Irish Short Course Championships in December
Sorcha Lavelle competing in the 16 and over category swam a variety of events including 400m IM and 400m freestyle in which she hadn’t swam competitively in over two years. She swam well picking up 4th and 5th place finishes in a number of events and a bronze medal in the 100m Butterfly.
Lewis McCartney moved far outside his comfort zone over the weekend entering backcrawl and butterfly as well as his favoured freestyle and breaststroke. The 15 year old also tried the 400m IM for the first time and came home in fourth place in a time of 5:22.68. Another fourth place followed in another new event – 100m backcrawl. Top 10 finishes in all his events and a total of seven PBs will see Lewis compete in the Irish Short Course and Ulster Youth Championships later in the year.
Connor and Tara McKenzie were both in great form trying out new techniques on advice by coach Rob.  Connor and Tara had some great PBs just narrowly missing out on medals. They are looking forward to season ahead.
11-year-old Isobel Lannon entered three events and secured a fantastic new time of 3.08.30s in her favoured  200IM. Two more solid swims in the 200m backcrawl and 100m freestyle saw her achieve another PB. Izzy was delighted with a top six ranking in her chosen events. Anna McDade was the youngest Lakelander to attend the Lisburn qualifying gala. With a view to experiencing longer distance swims she achieved a five secod PB in  the 100m breaststroke coming sixth overall. She also registered times in 200m freestyle and 100 backcrawl setting targets for future events.
Rachel Evans had a successful weekend in Lisburn with PBs of 29.15 seconds in the 50m freestyle, 1.03.92 in the 100m free and 1.13.22 in the 100m IM to form a good basis to work from in these and other events. Caitlin Martin swam in five events. She put in solid performances in her 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 200m IM and 100m freestyle.She was delighted to finish the weekend on a high getting a personal best in her 400m freestyle. This has given her the incentive to work hard for the next gala.
Niamh O’Kane entered three events and walked away with 2 PBs and a ticket to the Ulster Age Groups in June. 
First up was the 100m fly where she finished just outside the podium places in a personal best time of 1.16.16, showing the training since the start of September along with the technical improvements recommended by coach Rob is starting to pay off. Next up was the 200m freestyle where she maintained her high standard from last season. Finally, not one of Niamh’s historically stronger strokes, in the 100m backcrawl she produced her biggest PB of the day as she demonstrated her best technical swim of the meet, completing the heat in a time of 1:19.27, a PB of 2.51 seconds. 14-year-old Oisin McManus also attended the meet and returned with three gold medals and one bronze medal.
In addition to the medals, Anna McDade and Isobel Lannon (11) set new records in 100m and 200m backcrawl from 2010. 12-year-old Ellie McCartney smashed Sarah Treacy’s 100m freestyle record and Sally Burrell’s 50m Breaststroke time, both from 2008 while Ellie also knocked 23 seconds off Sophie O’Hare’s 200m IM time. Caitlin Love took 20 seconds off Natasha Love’s 400m freestyle time from 2014 and broke two IM records held for more than 10 years. Rachel Evans also beat Maria Treacy’s 50m freestyle and fly times from 2007. Sorcha Lavelle knocked Courtney Wilson off the top spot in the 400m freestyle from 2010 as well as Lucy Parkinson’s record in the 400m IM.
In the boys Jake Cadden beat Michael O’Hare’s 2011 record in the 50m backcrawl and Oisin McManus took 20 seconds off Michael’s 200m IM time. Connor McKenzie beat Conor O’Hare’s 2016 record and Lewis McCartney beat Barry Morris’ 200m freestyle time set in 2012, as did Kealan McShea in the 200m backcrawl.