MUNSTER DEVELOPMENT GALA, LEVEL 1
On Saturday last, May 19, a strong showing of swimmers from Fermoy made the journey to Mallow for the Munster Development Meet 1 gala. Some super swimming from our athletes, resulted in a decent haul of silverware and plenty of PBs.
Sam O’Brien, Rory Gill and Melina Pyrovolaki, pictured following their fantastic performances at the Munster Development Level 1 Meet in Mallow on May 19.
First up were Sam O’Brien and Adam Duggan in the boys 10-11 100m Free and both boys didn’t disappoint here with Sam taking 4.71 seconds off his previous time to take silver and Adam coming in over 6 seconds quicker than his previous best, finishing just outside the medals.
In the boys 12-13 100 Free, we had Luke O’Shea, Luca Salvatori and Louis Gorey in action, showing that training does indeed pay off. Luca knocked nearly 7 seconds off his previous time, while a great swim from Luke ensured he came away with a gold medal.
Kayla Whelan took on the girls 10-11 100m IM while Emily Gorey was in hard luck for a podium finish in the girls 12-13 100m IM. In the 14&Over 100m IM Maeve Callanan impressed by taking 4.47 seconds off her time and winning silver in the process.
There were very impressive PBs for our three swimmers in the boys 10-11 50m Breast – Nathan O’Flynn (-8.21), Sam O’Brien (-3.91) and Padraig O’Toole (-4.05) with Nathan taking gold here, followed by a silver for Sam.
There was to be another podium finish on the cards in the boys 12-13 50m Breast, with Luke O’Shea taking home bronze. Strong swimming also from Louis Gorey and Rory Gill who improved by -2.24 seconds.
We had four swimmers taking on the girls 10-11 50m Back, namely Melina Pyrovolaki, Mia Callanan, Clara Harrington and Kayla Whelan. An impressive showing from Melina saw her come away with a silver medal, while the other three girls were only just outside a PB.
Swimming the girls 12-13 50m Back were Meabh Lee, Emily Gorey and Eabha Burke and it was great to see a gold medal performance here from Eabha who improved by -2.60 seconds.
In the girls 14&Over 50m Back, Maeve Callanan finished agonisingly outside the medals, but it wasn’t for lack of effort as she improved her time by nearly 3 seconds.
Padraig O’Toole swam a strong 50m Fly in the boys 10-11 category, while in the boys 12-13 50m Fly Rory Gill shaved off -4.16 seconds for a super PB and took home a well-deserved silver medal here.
Swimming in the girls 10-11 50m Free was Kayla Whelan, while in the girls 12-13 50m Free we had Emily Gorey and Meabh Lee flying the flag.
Back in the water for the boys 10-11 100m IM were Sam O’Brien, Nathan O’Flynn and Padraig O’Toole – all swimming very well again – a very tense finish to this race with the silver position being split by Sam and Nathan! Well done boys.
Rory Gill was having a very good meet, and success continued for him in the boys 12-13 100m IM where he won bronze and took a huge -8.70 seconds off for an impressive PB.
The girls 100 Free was next up, with Melina Pyrovolaki, Clara Harrington and Mia Callanan in the 10-11 category, while Eabha Burke, Clodagh Whelan and Meabh Lee were in the 12-13 category. Another super swim from Melina saw her take gold and a 6 second PB, while Eabha won gold in the 12-13 category and knocked a huge 10.77 seconds off her previous best – fantastic effort girls. Clara had an impressive 8 second PB, as did Clodagh who took off over 2 seconds.
Luke O’Shea, Louis Gorey, Rory Gill and Luca Salvatori were all swimming in the boys 12-13 50m Back, with another PB here for Rory of -1.78 seconds and just outside the medals.
In the girls 10-11 50m Breast, both Mia Callanan and Clara Harrington had a very good race – Mia PB’d by -2.47 seconds and Clara was fractionally outside her previous best.
In the girls 12-13 50m Breast, PBs were hit by Eabha Burke (-5.33) and Clodagh Whelan (-2.49) with Emily Gorey and Meabh Lee swimming well also.
Three more superb PBs were yet to come, with Nathan O’Flynn smashing his previous time by over 8 seconds in the boys 10-11 50m Free. In the 12-13 category of the same discipline Luca Salvatori took a huge -5.67 seconds off, but the biggest PB was to come in the girls 12-13 50m Fly where Eabha Burke absolutely blew it out of the water taking over 9 seconds off her previous best and also winning a very well-deserved silver for her efforts.
Our last competitor at the event was Maeve Callanan, where she finished just outside the medal positions in the 14&Over 50m Fly.
Well done to all our swimmers on the day, and thanks to the parents who travelled and to Coach Paula for her hard work on a busy day.
LIMERICK INVITATIONAL
Zoe and Zach Daniels-Howard, pictured at the University of Limerick pool following last weekend’s Invitational Gala.
Saturday last also saw two swimmers head to UL for the Limerick SC Invitational Meet. Zach Daniels-Howard swam 3 events, achieved 3 pbs, 2 medals and 2 national division 2 times.
His sister Zoe swam her 2 favoured breaststroke events, winning gold in both 100m and 200m, along with 2 solid pb times. Well done to both.
