Coach learns a lot from swim event

The traditional alternative to shopping on the last weekend before Christmas, the premier event of the local short course calendar is usually seen as a chance for the swimmers to measure themselves against their local peers and for their coaches to take stock on the training thus far.

That being the case, Lisburn City's head coach Andrew Reid has good cause to be optimistic for the remainder of the season, since despite competing against more senior swimmers, several of his young charges acquitted themselves well collecting well deserved medals.

Sixteen year old ladies Club Captain Katie Reid led the way with a hat trick of individual silver medals in each of the backstroke events. In the 50m backstroke she lowered her own club record to 30.21 whilst at the 100m and 200m distances she took a full second off the previous club records recording new pb times of 1:05.41 and 2:20.28 respectively. Starting to find some early season form and re-establishing her credentials in the Ulster Swim Squad, Katie was well rewarded for her hard work and dedication to training as she complimented her achievements in the backstroke with a fine bronze medal winning swim in the 100m freestyle.

Another young lady who enjoyed a fruitful championship was the ever improving Jemma Bingham. Always in the mix, Jemma collected a brace of well deserved bronze medals in the 400m individual medley in a new pb time of 5:27.80 and the 200m fly in 2:35.12 as well as second place in the junior category in both the 400m IM and the 200m backstroke.

Training partner Rachel Smyth was also burning up the pool over the weekend. Determined butterfly swimming by Rachel saw her crowned Junior Champion taking the gold medal at both the 50m and 100m distances as well as the bronze medal at the 200m distance. A gritty 800m swim by Aileen Morrison on the first day of competition was rewarded with a well deserved silver medal in the open category whilst namesake Megan Morrison (no relation) crowned her four pb swims with a junior bronze medal in the 200m backstroke.

Adam Matthews nailed an impressive open silver medal in the 200m individual medley but saved his best for the 400m freestyle where, despite being narrowly beaten into third place in a very exciting race, still recorded a new best time and club record of 4:15.77. A determined and resolute swim by men's Club Captain Russell White in the 1500m time saw him claim a well deserved men's open silver medal whilst Olan Derry's open bronze medal in the 200m butterfly medley in a new pb time of 2:20.40 was good enough to for him to be awarded the Ulster Junior Champion title.

The individual successes were complimented by some outstanding team swimming in the relay events. The girl's team of Aileen Morrison, Amy Grazier, Rachel Smyth and Katie Reid acquitted themselves well against much senior opposition securing an outstanding ladies open bronze medal place in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay. Enlisting the individual talent of Megan Morrison ensured another bronze medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

Lisburn's Relay success was not confined to the senior end of the club. One of the highlights of these championships is the 4 x 50m relay competitions for the very youngest boys and girls which always increases the excitement and enjoyment of the finals. In the under 10 girls, the combined talents of Rebecca Sands, Amy Seawright, Nikhita Dowie, Rachel Bethel and Namona Teggart saw them home to gold in the medley relay and a close silver in the freestyle event. It was a similar story in the 11-12 age group where the Lisburn City girls dominated their events.

The 'A' girl's quartet of Chloe Richards, Georgia Dick, Natasha Pollock and Ruth Russell comfortably swam to gold in both the freestyle and medley events whilst the 'B' team of Zo Smyth, Lauren Gourley, Hannah Watson and Alexandra Hunt battled for a worthy bronze in the freestyle but were pipped into fourth in the medley. The boy's team of Alex Walker, Callum Taylor, Gareth Hill and Cameron McAteer also picked up a couple of bronze medals in each of their relays.

Head Coach Andrew Reid commented after the event that it was a relatively successful championships; it had allowed him to assess how the training program is going after three months and highlighted areas that he needed to address in the next training cycle. "There are things we need to work on as a squad to improve and we will be back in the pool focusing on these in 2010."