On Sunday, November 18, Fermoy Swimming Club was well represented at the Munster Development 2 Meet in Douglas, with 19 swimmers taking part.
This gala was the first Development 2 Gala for some and there was no hanging around either, with Sam O’Brien, Ryan Ates and Melina Pyrovolaki all smashing the Dev 2 times and now moving on to Qualifying Galas.
Nefeli Pyrovolaki – not to be outdone by her sister – smashed an amazing 13sec off her 100m front crawl and 3sec off her 100m IM which meant there was a buzz in the car on the way home. David Noonan had a great gala knocking 9sec off both his 100m front crawl and 100m IM while taking another 2sec off his 100m breaststroke and picking up a silver medal along the way.
Zoe Daniels-Howard and Annelies Kouwenberg were back by popular demand to swim the 100m IM and didn’t disappoint, knocking 26sec and 7sec off respectively and taking gold and silver also. Darragh Gill swam in the 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly and collected massive PBs of 20sec in the breaststroke (gold medal) and an even-better 27sec off in his butterfly.
Adam Duggan was competing at his first Development 2 gala and swam brilliantly to get within 2sec of his 200m front crawl and was 1sec off his 100m breaststroke time. So, no doubt he will be joining his brother soon enough at his galas.
Alexandra and Ionela Ohrim were also competing at this level for the first time and although it was a tough start for Alexandra by getting disqualified in the 100m IM, she didn’t let that distract her and she swam brilliantly for the remainder of the gala, finishing on a high by claiming a silver medal in the 100m fly. Ionela swam great races in the 200m front crawl, 100m breaststroke and also the 100m fly beside her sister.
Peter Verling swam in the 100m back crawl and knocked 6sec off his time, he took just under 3sec off in his 100m breaststroke and also the 200m IM where he PB’d, claiming a bronze medal for his effort which was just reward. Aisling Diggin also was a newcomer to this level and did not disappoint, swimming brilliantly in the 100m back crawl and breaststroke and she should be very proud of herself. We cannot wait to see her back in the pool again at the next gala.
A great day was also had by the older boys with Bartosz Lipinski and Ben Terry swimming in the 100m fly, 200m IM and 100m back crawl. Bartosz PB’d in all his events to achieve his A times while Ben also PB’d in his swims to be within sight of his times, which should keep him training hard to achieve this.
Mai McMahon swam a great 100m IM to PB by 6sec and followed that up by swimming a great 200m IM. It was a great gala also for Eabha Burke who PB’d in all her events and won bronze in the 100m breaststroke, silver in the 200m IM and just missed out on 3rd place in the 100m back crawl but was delighted nonetheless. Gearoid Carey swam the 100m breaststroke taking 4sec off his time, the 100m back crawl, and the 200m IM.
Last mention of the gala goes to Maeve Callanan who had the morning off to relax. It paid off for her, where after only a short warm up she swam in the 200m IM followed by the 100m front crawl where she knocked a massive 12sec off her time and then swam the 100m back crawl where she claimed a silver medal for her efforts.
It was a great gala for all swimmers and it was great to see so many Fermoy SC hats competing, which was mentioned by officials and other coaches on the day. Well done to all our swimmers who competed.
A big thank you to the parents who were team managers, time keepers and turn judges on the day as this would not have been possible without you, and to Coach Warren for his words of wisdom and encouragement. Thanks also to Sunday’s Well SC for hosting. Onward and upwards for Fermoy Swimming Club!
