SWIMMING Irish Long Course Swimming Championship Ends in Style at NAC

The final session of the Irish Long Course National Swimming Championships got of to a fantastic start at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin with the Women's 800m Freestyle final. Limerick's Grainne Murphy and Trojan's Nuala Murphy battled it out all the way in a gripping race, both finishing well ahead of the field and inside the old Irish Senior Record held by Niamh O'Sullivan. Grainne Murphy finally just edged it in a time of 8:41.87 with Nuala finishing in 8:42.20. Third place went to Tara Dunne of Ballina Dolphins. All three swimmers are based at the High Performance Centre at the University of Limerick.

Steven McQuillan of Ards later also posted a new Irish Senior Record of his own in the final of the Men's 100m Butterfly. Steven, who has already qualified for the World Student Games in Belgrade this summer, posted a time of 54.96 to take the gold medal, beating his own previous record time of 55.16 set at the Dave McCullagh Memorial Gala last month. Second went to Jack Nunn of NUIM Devils in 56.83 and third to Patrick Kennedy of Limerick SC in 57.28.

The Women's 100m Butterfly final went to Lorna Cummins of Sunday's Well in a time of 1:02.03 ahead of sisters Laura and Niamh McDonnell of Cormorant SC. An exciting final of the Women's 50m Freestyle was won by Clare Dawson of Bangor (26.46) in a field including some or Ireland's best young female swimmers. Second went to World Championship qualifier Fiona Doyle (26.60) with third to Martha Davis of Coolmine (26.90).

Following the conclusion of these National Championships, eleven athletes have qualified for the Irish team travelling to the World Championships in Rome this July. With the likes of Andrew Bree and Barry Murphy still to swim their qualification meets this promises to be the largest and strongest team yet to travel to a major International swimming event. In addition, Irish swimming will be well represented at the other summer competitions including the World Student Games, European Juniors and European Youth Olympic Festival