Day 4 Report – Youth and Senior Championships
On the eve on the 2024 Olympic Games, the penultimate day of the 2024 Irish Youth and Senior National Championships took place today on the Sport Ireland Campus.
Cork club Sundays Well topped the podium in a tightly contested Women’s 800m Freestyle Relay after Isabel Kidney, Eva Harrington, Antonina Sech and Ellen Lee clocked a combined 8:54.77 to secure the relay gold, finishing just ahead of Trojan (8:55.08) and Templeogue (9:00.61).
The Men’s 200m IM got the fourth evening of finals underway national titles on offer across the five age categories. Blackrock’s Phelim Hanley was first to get his hand on the wall in 2:14.00 to win the first national title on offer this evening. Scott Duda (2:16.17) of Longford was next up on the podium to claim silver with third going to Trojan’s Dawid Stachera in 2:19.35. Glenalbyn’s Ian Middleton went 2:14.55 to win the 16yrs national title, Ballymena’s Cody Lau was next home in 2:14.81, bronze went to Ards’ Mathias Pickett.
Ricky Fane brought the 17yrs national gold back to Cork as the Dolphin swimmer clocked 2:12.97. NAC’s Fionn Byrne was in second with 2:18 with bronze going to Artem Chobot of Titan.
Killian O’Loughlin Brophy was back on the podium as the Coolmine man clocked 2:10.87 to win the 18yrs national gold medal. The national silver travelled back to Wexford with New Ross’ Emmett Cousins (2:14.07), Dominic French (Longford) placed third with 2:14.71.
Jacob Armon dominated the 19yrs+ race, the Banbridge swimmer went 2:05.69 to take top spot on the podium. National Centre (Ulster) duo Adam Colgan and Matthew Hand took the final two podium spots, with Colgan (2:10.44) touching ahead of Hand (2:10.48).
Next up was the Women’s 200m Backstroke with the 15yrs taking to the backstroke ledges first. Caoilinn O’Connor of Sundays Well was first to get her hand on the wall in 2:24.09 to claim the national gold. Chloe Dawnay of Templeogue was next home in 2:28.14, third going to Meadbh Burke (2:30.97) of Claremorris. Ashling McCarthy of Trojan was first home in the 16yrs race to claim the national title in 2:23.89. Templeogue duo Holly McInerney (2:23.95) and Ava Rock (2:25.82) claimed the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Katie Kelly (Shark) won the 17yrs national title in a time of 2:23.23, silver went to Athlone’s Leah Connell (2:24.63) with Antonina Sech (Sundays Well) bagging bronze in 2:25.25. National Centre (Limerick) swimmer Maria Godden stormed home in 2:14.17 to win the 18yrs+ title. Rebecca Lowe of UCD was next home in 2:22.73, bronze went to Abigail Minto (Templeogue) in 2:24.32.
Drogheda swimmer Dylan Brady went 4:17.93 to win the 15yrs Men’s 400m Freestyle gold medal. His closest competitor was Dylan Ryan (Templeogue) with 4:23.85, bronze went to Lurgan swimmer Oscar Black (4:24.17). Ben Wilson of Ards topped the podium in the 16yrs in a time of 4:11.61, Paddy Cuddihy (Kilkenny) touched the wall next in 4:14.99, bronze went to Jonas Kazlauskas (4:20.05) of Aer Lingus.
National Centre (Limerick) swimmer and recent European Open Water Junior international, Denis O’Brien, was first to stop the clock in the 17yrs race in 4:08.58. O’Brien’s teammate Daragh Horgan was next home (4:10.12) with bronze going to Longford’s Kyle Kelly (4:11.78).
Ballina Dolphin swimmer Tom Wilkinson went 4:07.78 to win the 18yrs national title. Sundays Well’s Sean Bugler was next to stop the clock (4:10.52), with bronze going to Coolmine’s Killian O’Loughlin Brophy (4:15.05). The 19yrs and over national title went to Lachey Reed (Bangor), after he stopped the clock in a time of 4:05.60. Ben David of UCD went 4:12.64 in silver with bronze claimed by Ronan Fahey (4:15.08) of Trojan.
Next on the schedule was the Women’s 400m Freestyle finalists as Hannah Coady (St Fiacc’s) topped the podium in the 15yrs race in a time of 4:39.99. Abby Cunningham (Kilkenny) went 4:41.26 to bag silver with bronze going to Dolphin’s Lexi Dunne (4:43.26). The 16yrs national gold went to Eva Hand (Bangor) in 4:31.28, with Templeogue teammates Holly McInerney (4:32.87) and Ava Rock (4:36.74) claiming silver and bronze.
Nessa Godden of Kilkenny headed to the podium first to pick up the 17yrs gold following her time of 4:44.53. Slaney Sharks swimmer Katie Prunty stopped the clock next (4:39.42), with third and bronze going to Lili Markey (New Ross) in a time of 4:43.74.
Another Godden topped the podium, this time older sibling Maria who charged through the water in 4:22.68 to claim her second national title of the evening. UCD’s Naomi Trait was next home (4:30.42) with bronze going to Rebekah Friel (4:31.33) of Trojan.
The Men’s 200m Butterfly was the final event of the evening session. Phelim Hanley of Blackrock went 2:08.58 to win the 15yrs title with silver going to Thomas Bugler (2:12.22) of Sundays Well, Tallaght’s Jason Jia Siyuan bagged bronze (2:13.42). Levi Clarke (Glenalbyn) went 2:18.90 to win the 16yrs gold, closely followed by Ben Kelly (2:20.49) of Trojan with bronze going to Claremorris swimmer Tomas Burke (2:22.56).
Glenalbyn swimmer Sean Donnellan went 2:04.87 to take the 17yrs national gold home with silver going to Alex Barrett (Sundays Well) in 2:11.18. The bronze to Trident man Conor Lanigan (2:12.53). The 18yrs national gold went to Liam Mathers (Banbridge) in 2:10.70, Kilkenny’s Matthew McAviney was next to touch the wall (2:18.19), while bronze went to Breifne swimmer Louis Maguire (2:19.57).
National Centre Limerick completed a clean sweep in the 19yrs+, with recent European international Jack Cassin taking top spot on the podium in a time of 2:02.49. Cassin’s teammate Brogan McAviney went 2:05.92 in silver with bronze going to Ronan Kilcoyne (2:10.65).
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