Tight finish to gala but Banbridge do enough to see off Bangor

THE Banbridge Aquasprint team, took to the water again on March 2, against Bangor, a very tough team to beat.

With confidence and ability the Group A girls began the challenge. The group included Jennifer Morrow, Elinor Bradley (her first gala), Sorcha Boersma, Katie McComb, Kevina Burns and Lucy Lyttle. In their individual events, Jennifer Morrow and Sorcha Boersma both achieved second, third, fourth and sixth. Jennifer swam these four events well. She produced second in breaststroke, third in butterfly, fourth in backstroke and sixth in frontcrawl.She was in the medley relay team who came first.

Sorcha achieved second in butterfly, third in backstroke, fourth in frontcrawl and 6th in breaststroke. She was also in the medley relay team who came first.

Elinor Bradley came in fourth in butterfly, fifth in frontcrawl and fifth in breaststroke. Kevina came in sixth in backcrawl. Both Katie and Lucy swam in the relays and helped to bring in points for their team. The A girls and boys, together, produced a first in the medley relay and second in the freestyle relay.

The Group A boys team were very impressive in the water. Between this fine group of young swimmers, they won every event, in fact they came first, second and third in every event! Sam Johnston, Taylor Hill, Ronan Quinn (who is still only seven), Niall McGeown, Senan Carr (his first gala), Finlay Wright and Ben Farson made up this super seven! Sam Johnston stormed in first, in backstroke, breaststroke, frontcrawl and first in medley relay. Taylor Hill flew in first in butterfly and second in backstroke. Ronan Quinn came in, hot on Taylor’s heels, second in butterfly and swam a great third in breaststroke.He also came first in the medley relay team. Niall McGeown had some great swims with second in frontcrawl and third in backstroke.

Senan Carr swam a strong breaststroke race coming second close behind Sam. Finlay Wright has a great frontcrawl and came in third. Ben Farson came in third in butterfly.

The Group B girls are a very strong team and always perform well. This group consists of Julia Knox, Ruby McNiff, Aidin Quinn, Zoe Kilpatrick and Rachel Allenby. Julia came first in breaststroke and butterfly, second in backstroke and third in frontcrawl. Ruby came second in frontcrawl, third in backstroke and fourth in breaststroke. Aidin came third in breaststroke and fifth in butterfly. Zoe came second in butterfly and fifth in frontcrawl. Rachel came in sixth in backstroke. These girls, together with the Group B boys, won both the medley relay and the freestyle relay.

The Group B boys consisted of Dawson Patterson, James McKee, Dane McCullough, Daniel Brown and Ryan Bigley. Dawson took the lead with a first in backstroke, second in breaststroke, third in butterfly and third in frontcrawl. Ryan swam third in backstroke and fourth in frontcrawl. James swam into fourth in breaststroke, fourth in butterfly and fourth in frontcrawl. Daniel had a fourth in backstroke. Dane swam in sixth place in breaststroke and sixth in butterfly. Between these boys, they produced a first in every event.

The Group C girls had a lot of work to do as everyone could see that it was going to be a close competition. Lauren Armstrong, Caitlin Kearney, Rebecca Pinkerton, Jessica Robinson, Lauren Lyttle, Ellie Wright and Jami Wilson swam their hearts out and didn’t disappoint .Lauren Armstrong as always, swam furiously and achieved first places in three events, backstroke, butterfly and frontcrawl. Caitlin had a good night as she succeeded in getting third in breaststroke, fourth in butterfly and fifth in backstroke. Becky was in top form and achieved three second places. These were in backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. She also got a third in frontcrawl. Jessica is very strong in breaststroke and came in first place. She also got a sixth in frontcrawl. Ellie Wright swam up an age group all night so her results will be with the older Group D girls write up. Lauren Lyttle and Jami Wilson helped in the relays. Group C came first in both medley and freestyle relays.

Group C boys consisted of a fine squad of lads, James Whan, Patrick Doyle, Declan McGeown, Luke Milligan and James Smith. They succeeded in achieving a first in every event. James was on top form and produced first in backstroke and butterfly and second in breaststroke and frontcrawl. Patrick, with ease was placed 1st in breaststroke and frontcrawl, third in butterfly and fourth in frontcrawl. Declan pulled off fourth in butterfly and fifth in backstroke. Luke came in fifth in breaststroke and James Smith came in sixth in frontcrawl.

Finally, for the last age group, it consisted of the girls, Sophie Mount (captain of the girls), Eimear McMullan, Charlotte Farson, Ellie Wright and Lauren Lyttle(swimming up an age group) and Hannah Hubert. Sophie achieved third in backstroke, butterfly and frontcrawl. She also swam 4th in breaststroke. Eimear came in fifth in breaststroke and butterfly. Ellie made a big effort and achieved fourth in frontcrawl sixth in butterfly and breaststroke. Lauren Lyttle did well bringing in fourth in backstroke and sixth in frontcrawl. Charlotte Farson helped out with the relays.

The Group D boys had a strong leader, Harry Farson.This group also had William Pinkerton, Harry Dougan, Christopher Morrow, Ryan Armstrong and Daniel Kilpatrick. Harry Farson achieved first in butterfly (a very strong swim),second in frontcrawl and fourth in backstroke. William swam well as always and produced second in breaststroke, third in backstroke and fifth in butterfly. Ryan Armstrong swam fifth in backstroke and sixth in frontcrawl. Daniel Kilpatrick came fourth in breaststroke and fifth in frontcrawl. Harry Dougan came sixth in butterfly.

The final result was extremely close: Banbridge 206-194 Bangor. The next Aquasprint team gala is home to Lisburn on Saturday April 13. For further information on the club, see their website at Banbridgeasc.co.uk or follow them on Twitter at @BanbridgeASC

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