Shiels and McAleer star for Cookstown in gala against Ballymena

Cookstown were at home to Ballymena which turned out to be a very closely run contest.

The Cookstown squad consisted of 49 swimmers led out by new captains Matthew McNeill and Kelly Hunter.

The first event of the night was the medley relays with the teams performing equally well.

Then Cookstown started to pull ahead slightly in the back crawl with wins by Kelly Hunter and Thomas Heenan and the C girls and C boys recording first and second places thanks to Michael Gallen, Eoghan Donnelly, Hannah Haycock and Hannah Slane.

Up next came the breast stroke after which Cookstown had edged ahead by ten points thanks to outstanding wins by Patrick Highes, Michael Gallen, Conor Sheils, Hannah Slane and Matthew McNeill.

Cookstown also out swan Ballymena in the butterfly with the C boys, C girls and D boys recoridng first and second places.

After this stroke the results were sitting at 134 to 146 in favour of Cookstown.

The final individual event of the night was the front crawl, showing great swims from everyone especially our boys.

A boys Patrick Hughes and Jarlath McBrien secured 1st and 2nd places.

C boys Matthew Lindsey and Michael Gallen won first and second.

Topped off by D boys Thomas Heenan and Matthew McNeill also securing the top two places.

The last event of the night was the freestyle relays.

Cookstown came out on top winning three out of four races, with a final score of 213 to 187 in favour of the home team.

A total of 76 PBs were achieved on the night with a special mention to Conor Sheils and Daniel McAleer who achieved 4 PBs each.