Bann's young swimmers cause a splash with double delight over Coleraine

Banbridge ASC completed the double over Coleraine with a victory in the Aquasprint League.

The young swimmers claimed a 265-135 victory in Banbridge Leisure Centre, which added nicely to the club’s victory over the same opposition in the Provincial Town League last month.

Bann couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the match, as they won the first four mixed medley relays to get things going.

The Group A medley relay consisted of Thomas Evans, Lauren Burns-Atkins, Katie McFarlane and Noah Breen.

The Group A girls had a fine team led by Katie McFarlane. Accompanying her were Lauren Burns-Atkins, Tara Kennedy, Alex King, Maya Forsythe, Edie McCusker and Aine McGrady. These young swimmers put on a fine performance. Katie was first in all four of her individual events, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. Lauren was second in breaststroke and fifth in freestyle.

Tara was fourth in backstroke and sixth in breaststroke. Edie was second in fly, Maya was third in backstroke, Alex fourth in freestyle and Aine sixth in fly. It was a strong performance from the Group A girls.

The Group A boys were led by Noah Breen who was on top of his game. He won all his individual events with excellent times. Cathal Hill was in great shape coming in second in all his events. Ben Wilson was third in breaststroke and fly. Thomas Evans was second in backstroke, third in freestyle and fourth in breaststroke. These boys made up a fine team. Well done!

The Group B medley relay was swum and won by Ciara Daly, Bailey Breen, Holly McKibben and Pearse Rice.

Ciara Daly led the girls’ team and won backstroke, fly and freestyle. She was also fourth in breaststroke. Megan Williams was in good shape, winning breaststroke, coming second in backstroke and fourth in fly and freestyle. Holly was third in both breaststroke and fly. Alana Burns-Atkins came second in freestyle and fourth in backstroke.

The Group B boys had a super team. Bailey Breen was in top shape like his brother Noah. He won backstroke, breaststroke, fly and came a close second in freestyle. James McMullen, has shown great potential like his two big sisters Jessica and Jodie. He pulled off a fast fly time, coming in second and he was also third in backstroke and freestyle. Pearse Rice had some excellent swims with first in freestyle, second in backstroke, third in breaststroke and fifth in fly. Caelan McCracken was fifth in breaststroke.

The Group C medley relay was also won by Banbridge. Sarah McEvoy swam backstroke, Jodie McMullen, breaststroke, Ronan Quinn, butterfly and Isaac Forsythe, freestyle. They made an excellent time.

Group C girls were led by Jodie McMullen, who won all her individual events. Ellie Bingham did well coming second in backstroke and third in fly. Sarah McEvoy was third in backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and fourth in fly. Dia McCrory was fourth in breaststroke and Niamh McGeown was fifth in freestyle.

The Group C boys had a very competitive group taking turns coming first. The finish judge calls the order of swimmers at the end of the race. Occasionally the times don’t tally with the order but the finish judges trump timekeepers.

Ronan Quinn and Isaac Forsythe often take turns winning events and the times suggest a different outcome. However, because this competition is very much a team effort, it doesn’t matter which swimmer wins.

Ronan won backstroke and fly, came second to Isaac in freestyle and third in breaststroke. Added to his freestyle win, Isaac came second in backstroke, second in fly and fourth in breaststroke. Jack Lennon also swam great times with a first in breaststroke and third in freestyle. Jack Dougan, another excellent swimmer on this team, was third in backstroke and fly.

Finally, the Group D girls and boys also won their medley relay. Finlay Wright joined Rachel Blemmings, Niall McGeown and Sorcha Boersma to come home first. Rachel won all her individual events and swam excellent times.

Clodagh McGrady was second in backstroke and fourth in the other three events. Jennifer Morrow was second in breaststroke and third in fly. Sorcha was third in backstroke and third in fly.

The Group D boys had a very competitive set of swimmers. Finlay was in great form and won both backstroke and fly. He was also fourth in freestyle. Peter Bigley came first in freestyle and second in backstroke. Senan Carr won the breaststroke. Niall McGeown was second in fly and third in freestyle. Taylor Hill was third in backstroke and breaststroke. Ben Farson was fifth in fly and Lawson Morrow was sixth in breaststroke.

The four freestyle relays completed the final races. Bann won all four of these too, eight out of eight relays.

In the A Group, Cathal Hill and Alex King replaced two swimmers. In the B Group, Alana Burns-Atkins was second to swim. The C Group swimmers remained the same although the order changed; Ronan, Sarah, Isaac and then Jodie. Peter Bigley was in the winning Group D freestyle relay.

Throughout the competition, Bann’s swimmers all gave their best. The team spirit was very much present but even though Bann knew they were in a stronger position and would probably win, the opposition didn’t feel bad.

Bann swimmers were respectful and stayed in the water until the end of a race and the spectators waited until the last swimmer has touched, before cheering for everyone.

Banbridge ASC send thanks to all coaches, timekeepers, catering folk and anyone who helped in any way.

Bann’s next Aquasprint will be away to Lisburn on Sunday 17th April. Warm-up at 6pm. Start at 6-30pm.