Final Day at Scottish National Swimming Championships
The 2011 Scottish Gas National Open Championships at Tollcross Park Leisure Centre in Glasgow ended today with Irish swimmers again featuring strongly in finals. Clare Dawson (Bangor SC) swam in the final of the Women's 100m Freestyle but couldn't match her medal success of yesterday, finishing in 5th place with a time of 57.60. Aisling Cooney (ESB SC) qualified for the A final of the Women's 50m Butterfly, finishing 6th in a time of 28.92.
Brendan Hyland (Tallaght SC & HPC-NAC) set yet another personal best in the heats of the Men's 400m Individual Medley. Hyland has made significant progress this season since joining the High Performance Centre in Dublin and qualified for the A final with a time of 4:41.50. In the final Hyland went faster again, finishing just outside the medals in 4th place with a best time of 4:41.30. Cian Duffy (Galway SC) also raced in the A final of the Men's 400m Individual Medley following a great morning swim (4:43.44) and finished just behind Hyland in 5th in a time of 4:41.77. Both swimmers also featured in the B final of the 100m Butterfly, with Hyland finishing 7th (59.35) and Duffy 9th (59.61).
Jack Cobain (Portmarnock SC & HPC-NAC) competed in the Men's 200m Freestyle (2:03.37) and 100m Butterfly (1:01.28) events. Niamh Bryson (Templeogue SC) performed well in the heats of the Women's 200m Breaststroke, and qualified for the B final with a time of 2:48.45. In the final, Bryson went over 2 seconds faster, finishing 4th (2:46.28). Emma Cassidy (Sunday's Well SC) competed in both the 100m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly, setting new best times in both events to cap a fantastic competition for the Cork swimmer. In total, Cassidy has set 4 new personal best times at the Tollcross Park Leisure Centre this weekend. Grace Branagan (Templeogue SC) also finished her weekend's racing in style in the heats of the Women's 100m Freestyle, touching in a new personal best time of 1:00.68. Club mate Katrin Kychygina also swam in this event and finished in a time of 1:02.36.
Dublin High Performance Centre Head-Coach Paul Donovan commented on four very positive days of racing for Irish Swimming. "It is notable that every athlete made it back for a final swim and with multiple personal best times, some podium finishes and invaluable competition experience, this has proved to be a great preparation meet for the more experienced athletes like Dawson, Cooney and Cummins and in general, as international exposure for the National Youth Development Squad athletes." Donovan will next travel to Trabzon, Turkey as Head-Coach to the 7 Irish swimmers competing at the European Youth Olympic Festival.
The 2011 European Junior Swimming Championships begins this week and an 8 strong Irish team departed for Belgrade, Serbia today (Sunday). The competition starts on Wednesday and will continue until next Sunday. Leander swimmer Sycerika McMahon will hope to repeat her medal winning success at the same competition last year, and is ranked highly in a number of her events. Also taking place this weekend is the European Disability Championships in Berlin, with further medal success for Ireland. Darragh McDonald won bronze in the 400m Freestyle (S6) event in a time of 5:15.02.
Full Irish Results - Day 4
- Grace Branagan (Templeogue SC) W100FR 1:00.68 (H) (PB)
- Niamh Bryson (Templeogue SC) W200BR 2:48.45 (H) 2:46.28 (F)
- Emma Cassidy (Sunday's Well SC) W100FR 1:01.48 (H) (PB); W50BF 30.51 (H) (PB)
- Jack Cobain (Portmarnock SC & HPC-NAC) M100BF 1:01.28 (H); M200FR 2:03.37 (H)
- Aisling Cooney (ESB) W50BF 29.18 (H) 28.92 (F)
- Lorna Cummins (Sunday's Well SC) W50BF 29.67 (H)
- Clare Dawson (Stirling) W100FR 58.42 (H) 57.60 (F)
- Cian Duffy (Galway SC) M100BF 59.73 (H) 59.61 (F); M400IM 4:43.44 (H) 4:41.77 (F)
- Brendan Hyland (Tallaght SC & HPC-NAC) M100BF 1:00.31 (H) 59.35 (F); M400IM 4:41.50 (H) (PB) 4:41.30 (F) (PB)
- Katrin Kychygina (Templeogue SC) W100FR 1:02.36 (H)