THE Enniskillen Lakelanders Amateur Swimming Club is relatively small in comparison to other clubs in Ulster but it still punched way above its weight at in terms of competing on a provincial basis like the Ulster Youth and Age Group Championships.
The 2016 event returned to the Aurora Swimming Pool in Bangor and gave the Ulster swimmers the opportunity to compete against their peers as well as clubs from the rest of Ireland and England.
Thirteen swimmers from the Lakelanders entered the competition with hopes of improving their times, reaching a final, achieving a podium position or a mixture of all three.
The event took place over three days with heats in the morning and finals in the late afternoon for most events. 3,126 entries, 338 heats, 36 events and five age groups in each led to Ulster Age Group winner in each stroke for each age.
Last year Ellie McCartney won the Ulster age group nine to 11-year-old title in 200m breaststroke aged only nine and was due to return with the hope of defending her title. Unfortunately Ellie, now 10, fell and injured her fingers in an accident a week before the event but was determined to recover sufficiently to compete.
This year Ellie swam in four events beginning with 100m breaststroke, finishing first seed in the heat with a new personal best (PB) of 1:26.83. The youngest Lakelander competing won the final by four hundredths of a second to take gold and become Ulster champion.
On the final day of the event the current Irish Minor Schools champion swam in the final heat against 13 to 16-years-olds including Irish record holders and again finished first seed in the 200m breaststroke nine to 11 age group.
Ellie swam a strong race and lead from the start won the final by four seconds and also showed her versatility in the 200m individual medley by winning bronze in a new PB of 2:53.89. She rounded off the weekend finishing fifth in Ulster in the 200m freestyle.
Sorcha Lavelle had a superb weekend of swimming competed in five events and over this 3 day meet finished in the top three in each.
In the 100m breaststroke where she achieved a place in the finals, she swam her finest and came away with a silver medal and also a new PB.
She also took bronze in the 800m freestyle, heat declared finishing 3rd and a well deserved bronze medal. Following on from this on day 2 was the 200m individual medley, the and the 400m freestyle and again making the finals winning bronze in both events, and finally finishing off with the 200m breaststroke on Day 3 easily making the final and winning another bronze medal. This has been a fantastic competition for Sorcha reaping rewards for her hours spent training.
Orla Keaveney, 12, is based in England and competes for her home club on a regular basis.
In the Her first event was 100m freestyle she qualified for the final and finished fifth and th in Ulster. in the 200m IM Orla swam to another PB by 9.5 seconds and was again fifth in Ulster.
She secured bronze Medal in the 400m freestyle with a five-second PB in the final and in the 400m IM she once again came fifth in Ulster. Orla won another bronze Medal in the 200m breaststroke with another fantastic PB and came sixth place in the final of the 200m freestyle.
Kealan McShea took had his most successful meet of the season ending day 1 with a fifth place and a PB of 14 seconds in the 400m IM. His form continued as he followed this up by securing a place In the 200m backstroke final he took in which he secured an Ulster Age Group bronze medal with a PB of 10 seconds. On the third day he captured three more He returned on day 3 of the meet with 3 swims and three PBs , one of which saw him make the 200 backstroke final. He narrowly missed out on a bronze medal with a further PB butand achieved his ultimate aim of an Irish age group division one time.
Ben Lynch attended the championships for the first time and competed in six events over the three days. He achieved five new PBs and came seventh overall in the 200m freestyle and fifth in the 400m freestyle. The gruelling 1500m freestyle saw Ben produce his best performance of the competition with a PB of over 30 seconds to finish in 19:37 seconds and receive the silver medal.
Jack Maravelakis is undoubtedly back on track after 3 months off suffering glandular fever with two terrific swam the 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:19.18 taking 5.26 seconds off his PB. He also achieved two Irish age group division one times, including a six second PB in the 200m breaststroke and held his own amongst Ulster’s best.
Caitlin Love swam in six individual events and two relays. She achieved four PBs and made two finals in the 100m and 200m butterfly.
 Caitlin had a super swim In the 200m fly she achieved a four-second PB to finish fourth and achieve an Ulster squad time for 15/16.
Caitlin also achieved another PB to make the final in 100m fly but was unable to beat her fifth place qualifying seed.
Oisin McManus’ first race, the 200m freestyle, on the opening day of the gala saw him knock almost four seconds off his previous time, putting him in the final.
His next event was the 200m backstroke and again he made his second final of the day with 2:39.83, shaving 2.32 seconds off his PB.
Saturday saw Oisin compete In the 1500m freestyle Oisin's 19:46.46 was almost a second better than his previous time and he had a two-second PB in the 200m IM.
In the 400m freestyle he finished in an incredible 5:04.60, again knocking 2.77 seconds off his previous best, and in the 100m backstroke he again recorded a personal best of 1:17.14, taking almost a second off his previous time.
This was the second year that Lewis McCartney had qualified for the Ulster Age Groups and he was relishing the chance to swim PBs and hopefully gain qualifying times.
In Lewis’s first event was the 200m freestyle he recorded a one-second PB. This was followed by the 100m breaststroke where Lewis finished with another new PB, as reserve for the final and more importantly with fourth Irish age group Division Two qualifying time.
The 13-year-old just missed out on final placing in the 200m breaststroke and finished the weekend off with a PB in the 400m freestyle.
Tara and Connor McKenzie were taking part in the Swim Ulster Age Group Championships for the first time in and enjoyed the experience from start to finish.
Tara competed in the100m breaststroke and Connor competed in the 100m freestyle, swimming to a new PB of 1:05.23.
Niamh O’Kane has been increasing the hours in the pool over the last few months and has introduced morning sessions into her schedule.
The extra hours are starting to pay dividends as she achieved her single goal on Sunday and booked her trip to Limerick in the summer with a superb swim in the 100 fly at the Ulster Age Groups, with a season best 82.2 seconds.
This was especially difficult as the qualifying times are for 13 and 14-year-olds and Niamh has only recently turned 13.
She is determined to add to her Irish age group qualifying times over the next few months by targeting the 100 free and back as she is just 0.6 of a second off the qualifying times in those events.