There was massive success for the Lakelanders Swimming Club at the Swim Ulster Spring Meet at the Bangor Aurora Centre last weekend.

The club returned home with a huge medal haul that included 17 gold medals, 13 silver and four bronze as well as seven new Irish Age stroke Division (IAG) 1 qualifying times and 19 IAG Division 2 qualifying times.

Lakelanders Coach, and former Commonwealth Swimmer, Chelsey Wilson was delighted with the performance of the swimmers.

“I’m very pleased with how every Lakelander did at the weekend,” she said. “Everyone represented the club so well. I see how much hard work they put into training everyday and it’s great to come down to these meets and watch them perform so well. I love watching them achieve the qualifying times they are looking for and I look forward to many more meets with more big PBs along with it.” Irish Schools champion, Ellie McCartney, continued her great run of form as she followed up her seven gold medals in Liverpool by claiming eight golds from eight events in Bangor as well as two more IAG Division 1 qualifying times bringing the total to four for the July event.

Friday Night began with the 800m Freestyle as Ellie smashed her previous best by more than a minute, 11:14.64, to record her third IAG Div 1 time of the season. This was followed up with golds in 100m Breaststroke, 200m and 50m Freestyle on Saturday. Sunday saw gold in the 200m Individual Medley with an eight second improvement on her PB and a fourth IAG Div 1 time – a fantastic achievement for a 9 year old. Ellie finished the day with three more golds in 100m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle and 200m Breaststroke. Although Ellie was graded in the 9-year-old category her times would have also won gold in the 10-year-old age group and also in some of the 11-year-old ages.

Sorcha Lavelle (13) was on top form this weekend bringing home two golds, three silvers and a bronze medal while she also achieved three Irish Division 1 Qualifying Times, bringing her tally in total to five to date.

The two golds arrived in the 400m Individual Medley and the 400m Freestyle with IAG Div 1 times achieved in both while there was silver medals in the 50m Butterfly, the 200m Breaststroke and the 50m Breaststroke. Sorcha also recorded an IAG Div 1 time in the 200m Individual Medley.

Sisters, 15 year old Natasha and 12 year old Caitlin Love, had a ‘lovely’ weekend, returning with nine medals between them. Natasha had a superb meet, returning with four gold medals and one silver medal. Natasha claimed gold in 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke as well as 200m Individual Medley. She swam a strong 100m Breaststroke to claim second place. Natasha continues to show good form and obtained four new PBs over the two days as well as confirming her place at the international Dave McCullough, Ulster Age Groups and IAG Div 1 championships.

Caitlin swam in eight events over the two days and achieved top 10 finishes in all her events, five Ulster age group times and five Irish Division 2 times. She continues to show good promise in the Butterfly achieving gold in the 100m and silver in the 50m and 200m events. She also obtained silver in the 50m Backstroke.

It was also a successful meeting for Oisin McCaffrey McManus who finished off with five medals and five IAG Div 2 qualifying times.

There was gold and a new PB for Oisin in the 200m Individual Medley while he also secured four silvers. The silvers came in the 200m Backstroke, the 100m Backstroke, the 200m Freestsyle and the 400m Freestyle in which he smashed his PB by over 15 seconds.

Niamh O’Kane moved to within half a second of achieving her IAG Division 1 Qualifying Time in her favoured event, the 100m Butterfly, swimming it in 1:23.53 seconds. In her first event, the 800m Freestyle, she completed it in just 12 mins - only 11 seconds off the Division 1 qualifying time. She picked up a very impressive silver medal in the physically demanding 200m Butterfly, two bronze medals in the 50m Fly and 200m Freestyle, top five finishes in the 100m Fly, 50m & 100m Freestyle, and added two more Ulster Age Group and two IAG Division 2 qualifying times to the five she already holds.

Kealan McShea headed to Bangor with his sights firmly set on achieving his IAG Div 2 times and day one got off to a great start with Kealan achieving his first IAG Div 2 and Ulster qualifying time in the 200m backstroke with a new PB of 2:57.89 taking fourth place. The second swim of the day was the 100m Freestyle and it saw him achieve another PB of 1:14.35. Kealan rounded off day one winning a silver medal in the 50m Backstroke. Day two saw Kealan achieve his second IAG Div 2 and Ulster Age Group time in the 100m backstroke and in the penultimate race of the day Kealan won the Lakelanders’ final medal of the meet with a great swim and a gold medal in the 50m Freestyle.

Lewis McCartney continued his rise to the top with a gold medal in the 800m Freestyle. He also had top 10 finishes and PBs in 50m, 100m & 200m Breaststroke and 400m Individual Medley. Lewis achieved his pre event goals of IAG Div 2 qualifying times in 200m Breaststroke and Freestyle giving him a total of four times for the Limerick event. He also achieved an Ulster Age Group time in 400m Individual Medley Caitlin Martin started off the weekend with 800m Freestyle. On the Saturday afternoon she swam the 200m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke. On Sunday, Caitlin started off with 200m Individual Medley, then did 200m Backstroke. She swam 400m Freestyle and 200m Breaststroke in the afternoon session.

Caitlin attained personal bests in all her events and was delighted to get two IAG Div 2 qualifying times in 100m and 200m Backstroke, as well as picking up a bronze medal in the 200m Backstroke. This was a very successful weekend for Caitlin.

Dara McGandy achieved three Div 2 times in the 200m Individual Medley in a time of 3:01.34, in the 100m Freestyle in a time of 1:12.10 secs and the 200m Breaststroke in a time of 3:36.02. He finished off the day with the 50m Breaststroke in a time of 44 seconds.

Rhiannon Dolan also competed at the Spring Meet and had PBs in the 200m Freestyle and the 100m & 200m Backstroke.