SWIMMING

Armagh PTL team score decisive win against Olympia

Following a disappointing result in the first meet of the new season against Mid-Ulster, Armagh senior swimmers in the Provincial Towns League team, made a very worthwhile trip to Belfast to swim against Olympia.  The meet took place in the new Leisure Centre on the Falls Road which, although being a bright, modern centre, is not yet prepared for competitive swimming with the absence of starting blocks. However, as both teams were visitors to the pool this was not a handicap for either team.

Armagh got off to a very good start winning five of the eight Medley Relay events.  In the Backcrawl events Armagh scored maximum points in the Group B girls (Sinead Gillen and Arlene McShane), and Group C boys (Gavin McParland and Matthew Lenagh).  New swimmer with the Club, Oisin Young, won the A girls event with Maeve O’Hagan taking third place.  Lorcan Oliver and Cathal Meredith took first and third for the A boys. In Group B boys Paul Campbell and Duncan Steed took second and third places.  Clare Oliver won the Group C girls, Emma McManus and Rebecca Murray came third and fourth in D girls, and Mark Oliver and David Comiskey took second and third in D boys.  Third places were also achieved by Pauline Quinn (B girls), and Eoin Mallon (C boys).

Leading by eighteen points going into the Breaststroke, Armagh scored maximum points in four events: A boys, B girls and boys, and C boys.  First and second places were earned by Lorcan Oliver and Cathal Meredith (A boys), Sophie Murray and Arlene McShane (B girls), Paul Campbell and Duncan Steed (B boys), and Matthew Lenagh and Matthew Campbell (C boys).  Oisin Young took first place in A girls and Clare Oliver came in first in C girls with Sheila McManus coming in third.  In group D, Eimer McKinstry and Emma McManus took second and third places for the girls with Michael Megaw and Mark Oliver achieving the same for the boys.  These good performances in the event increased the lead to forty points.

The Butterfly events showed up a weakness in the Armagh team with maximum points achieved in only two events: B girls (Sophie Murray and Arlene McShane) and C boys (Gavin McParland and Matthew Lenagh).  Other wins were recorded by Oisin Young (A girls), Lorcan Oliver (A boys), and Clare Oliver (C girls).  Second place in D boys went to Lochlainn Connolly, and third places were achieved by Roisin Meredith (B girls), Aileen McParland (D girls), and Darren Mallon (D boys).

A good performance in the Frontcrawl events increased the lead to fifty-six points  Maximum points were achieved in A boys (Lorcan Oliver and Cathal Meredith), B girls (Sinead Gillen and Arlene McShane), and C boys (Gavin McParland and Matthew Lenagh).  Other wins were achieved by Oisin Young (A girls), and Clare Oliver (C girls).  In group D, Emma McManus and Rebecca Murray took second and third places for the girls while Mark Oliver came in second for the boys,   Other points were earned by Lois Barden (A girls), Fionnula McKinney (C girls), Philip Megaw (C boys) and Lochlainn Connolly (D boys).

In the Individual Medley events maximum points were again achieved by the same three groups: A boys (Lorcan Oliver and Cathal Meredith), B girls ( Sinead Gillen and Arlene McShane), and C boys (Gavin McParland and Matthew Lenagh).  A girls, Oisin Young and Lois Barden, achieved first and third places, and B boys, Duncan Steed and Paul Campbell, achieved third and fourth places.  Clare Oliver won group C girls with Aileen McParland, Emma McManus, David Comiskey and Darren Mallon earning points in group D.  Other third places were achieved by Roisin Meredith (B girls) and Patrick Steed (C boys).

In the final events, the Freestyle Relay, Armagh won four of the eight races (A boys, B girls, C boys and D boys) bringing the final score to Olympia 542, Armagh 602.

Although this was a very competitive gala there were comparatively few Personal Best times achieved – perhaps a combination of being early in the season and the design of the pool – so well done to those who did achieve – twenty seven times altogether.  Four PB times were achieved by Karen Lynch and Cathal Meredith, three by Niamh Quinn, Oisin Young and Niall Clifford, two by Eoin McAleavey, and one each by Lois Barden, Sophie Murray, Patrick Comiskey, Brian Og Rice, Philip Megaw, Gavin McParland, Jonathan Cummings, and David Comiskey.