Irish Swimmers Continue to Impress at Scottish National Championships
The second day of competition at the 2011 Scottish Gas National Open Championships has seen more strong performances from Irish Swimmers. The event, taking place at Tollcross Park Leisure Centre, Glasgow, has attracted a high standard of competition internationally, with Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic medallists all competing for medal glory.
The most notable restul of the day was the performances of Cian Duffy (Galway SC), Brendan Hyland (Tallaght SC & HPC-NAC) and Jack Cobain (Portmarnock SC & HPC-NAC) who all qualified for the final of the Men's 200m Butterfly, showing the depth of quality and ability that is starting to develop in Irish swimming.
All three swimmers are part of the Swim Ireland National Youth Development Squad Programme, established in 2010 to support the work of home coaches and swimmers preparing for European Junior competition. In the final the three finished outside the medals in 8th, 9th and 10th places respectively, with Duffy best of the Irish in 2:10.08. Cobain and Hyland both also qualified for the B final of the Men's 400m Freestyle, with the Tallaght man finishing in 4th place in a time of 4:10.26.
Sunday's Well swimmer Emma Cassidy continued her fantastic performances at these championships. She finished the day with two further personal best times, finishing third in the B final of the 200m Backstroke (2:23.09) and also swam strongly in the 50m Freestyle (28.41). Olympian Aisling Cooney (ESB SC) finishing in 6th place in a time of 27.75 in the B final of this event.
Another Sunday's Well swimmer, Lorna Cummins, who is based at Loughborough University, qualified for the B final of the Women's 200m Individual Medley, finishing in 8th (2:26.24). The Templeogue SC trio of Katrin Kychygina, Grace Branagan and Niamh Bryson, who are coached by Brian Sweeney and are also members of the National Youth Development Squad all competed today and put in strong performances in their events. Kychygina and Branagan couldn't be separated in the heats of the 200m Backstroke, both touching the wall in the exact same time (2:28.85).
Full Irish Results - Day 2
- Grace Branagan (Templeogue SC) W200BC 2:28.85; W50FC 28.32
- Niamh Bryson (Templeogue SC) W200IM 2:32.57; W100BS 1:19.14
- Emma Cassidy (Sunday's Well SC) W200BC 2:25.59 (H); 2:23.09 (F) (PB); W50FC 28.41 (PB)
- Jack Cobain (Portmarnock SC & HPC-NAC) M400FC 4:15.99 (H); 4:21.91 (F); M200BF 2:11.70 (H); 2:12.70 (F)
- Aisling Cooney (ESB) W50FC 27.97 (H); 27.75 (F)
- Lorna Cummins (Sunday's Well SC) W200IM 2:27.42 (H); 2:26.24 (F)
- Cian Duffy (Galway SC) M200BF 2:11.62 (H); 2:10.08 (F)
- Brendan Hyland (Tallaght SC & HPC-NAC) M400FC 4:14.26 (H); 4:10.26 (F) (PB); M200BF 2:09.88 (H); 2:10.25 (F)
- Katrin Kychygina (Templeogue SC) W200BC 2:28.85; W50FC 28.45