Irelands Junior Swimmers Show Great Depth

Ireland's up and coming Junior swimmers showed superb form today at the University of Limerick's 50m Arena swimming pool, during the finals of the annual Dave Mc Cullagh Memorial Gala, and first International qualifier of the year.

The meet, which is run every year in honor of Dave Mc Cullagh - former Director of Swimming for the Irish Amateur Swimming Association - ran from Friday to Sunday. The Dave Mc Cullagh Memorial trophy was presented at the end of the competition, to Templeogue Swim Team (formerly coached by Mc Cullagh), who outperformed all other club's over the three day meet.

Aer Lingus star Conor Turner, nephew of Ken Turner who is a former Irish International swimmer and holder of the current 21-year standing 800m freestyle Irish short senior course record, achieved his goal in the 800m freestyle race, swimming inside the European Juniors qualification time in the event and also taking gold in a time of 8.29.35.

Also booking their tickets to the European Juniors in Serbia was New Ross's Shani Stallard, who clocked a new personal best in the 200m breaststroke final, also taking gold (2.33.63). Sycerika Mc Mahon rounded off an exceptional meet, winning the 400m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 200m Individual Medley events and dipping well inside the European Junior qualification standards in all three.

2008 Olympian and UCD student Aisling Cooney swam a strong 100m backstroke final tonight and finished 3 seconds ahead of second place Emma Cassidy of Sunday's Well. Cooney's winning time of 1.03.24 qualifies her for the World University Games in Shenzhen, China which take place from 14-19 August 2011.

Issued by Swim Ireland, whose High Performance Programme is supported and funded by the Irish Sports Council