A squad of ten Enniskillen Lakelanders attended the Jack Beattie Memorial Open Meet on Sunday May 15 in Lagan Valley Leisureplex in Lisburn. The gala was another successful outing for the club with a total of 29 Personal Bests (PBs) achieved.

Luke Lannon (11) competed in six events. Luke swam consistently in both sessions achieving PBs in his chosen swims and top ten finishes in all. Luke placed fifth overall in the 200m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke and 50m Breaststroke, sixth and seventh place finishes were achieved in the 50m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle respectively. Luke was most happy with the new PB of 35.32 in 50 Freestyle.

Ryan Mongan (11) maintained his seed time in 100m Breaststroke placing fourth. He was then delighted to knock 3 seconds off his 50m Freestyle time. Ryan followed that with another PB in the 50m Breaststroke and maintained his time in the 100m Freestyle race.

Russell Mikiewicz Lumayad (12) won a bronze medal in 25m Freestyle in his age group, achieved two PBs and finished in top ten in his three other events, a successful meet for the young swimmer.

Josh Cassidy (11) had a great day in his three Freestyle events, with PBs. With good advice from his coach, he is excited to get back in the pool.

Kiril Chursin (16) achieved top ten finishes in four of his events. He also came away with 3 second PBs in 50m Butterfly and 100m Breaststroke, with another PB of 5 seconds in the 50m Breaststroke race. A new Division Two time in the 100m Breaststroke was a pleasing result from the weekend competition for Kiril.

Keira Salcedo (9) swam four 25m events beating her seed times and was delighted to achieve an eighth place in the Breaststroke event. Older sister Erin Salcedo (11) participated in eight events and showed continued improvement in her times and was proud to achieve a fourth place finish overall in 50m Breaststroke and ninth place overall in 100m Breaststroke events.

Beth Buchanan (12) competed in three events and achieved a fantastic result in 100m Backstroke where she was delighted to shave almost 3 off her best time. She then swam the highly competitive 100m and 50m Freestyle races and maintained her recently achieved times in these strokes. Beth has gained valuable race experience at this meet.

Cora Cassidy (16) had a good day competing in her favourite events. With a different race strategy, Cora felt very comfortable with the new technique, showing great improvement in her Freestyle and Individual Medley events.

Niamh O’Donnell (14) achieved PBs in all four strokes and was pleased to achieve in top ten finish positions in 50m Butterfly and 50m Breaststroke.

Chairperson Sara Lannon commented thus on the swimmers “It’s fantastic to see not only the team spirit but fantastic friendships which are developing among our younger squads. All our swimmers swam well evident by the many personal bests achieved on Sunday. It was also heart-warming to have seen swimmers celebrate and encourage each other’s success”.

The junior swimmers will set their sights next on the third round of Aquasprint League on 28th of May in Enniskillen.