TEMPLEOGUE Athletes deliver TOP class results at IRISH Championships

Last weekend in the National Aquatic Centre, the podium was dominated by some excellent results by the local Templeogue Swimming Club (TEAM TSC). Athletes from the TEAM delivered 200 swims in total but most impressively delivered 89 Top 10 Finishes, 47 Top 3 Finishes and a massive 24 Irish Titles across the TEAM.

In the Under 12’s event Jonah Clegg produced some excellent personal best times to deliver his strongest performances at a National event. Jonah made 8 finals in total and delivered top 5 positions in 7 events crowning his weekend winning gold in the 200 Breastroke and 3 silver medal results in the 100 and 200m Backcrawl and 100M Breastroke event. Jonah also picked up a strong bronze medal finish in the 200M Individual medley event. A superb weekend for Jonah was crowned by him being awarded 2nd place overall in the U12 age group. Also in the U12 girls events Katelyn Field and Saoirse Bryson, the latter having only recently qualified for the event at the Irish Division 2 championships, represented the club with distinction at this very tough event. Tackling some tough events, both girls finished in 4th and 5th place respectively in the 200Butterfly on day 1, whilst Katelyn also delivered a strong swim in the 200IM on the first day of competition. On day two Field returned again to place 8th in the 400M Frontcrawl event and both girls later teamed up again in the shorter 100m Butterfly event to deliver two excellent Personal best times. Katelyn’s strongest event was a 4th place finish in the 200 Breastroke, but also delivered a 5th place finish in the shorter 100m event and an excellent PB swim to finish in 5th place also in the 400m IM event. Saoirse continued her impressive improvements over the year with another fine personal best swim in the 100Freestyle.

As the team were represented in the U13 year age group the depth in the squad was demonstrated with both Alison O’Driscoll and Niamh Bryson being awarded first and silver positions in the overall age group event on the day. O’Driscoll had a superb weekend winning gold in the 800FC and 200IM on day one, and helping her team mates under 14 to win gold in the Freestyle relay on the first day also. On day 2 of the meet Alison continued her medal winnign performances with a further gold in the 100FC and silver medals in the 200 Breastroke and 400m Frontcrawl. A further gold medal was delivered on the U14 Medley Relay also. On the final day of competition Alison also notched up gold in the 400IM and 100FC and a silver in the 100Breastroke. Niamh Bryson also delivered a strong set of results, finishing with gold medals in the Breastroke events in both the 100M and 200M distances and with runner up results in the 800FC, 400IM and bronze medal results in the 400FC and 200IM also. Another medallist in this age group was Katrin Kychygina who won silver in both the 100M and 200M Backcrawl events and delivered excellent PB swims to place 4th in the 200IM and making finals in the 200FC and 100FC. Across the events in this age group, the Templeogue TEAM delivered strong performances with Eva Martin, Eva Barrett, Ciara Feighan, Naoise O’Driscoll and Martha O’Donoghue also delivering personal best swims. Feighan finished in 8th in the 800FC with O’Donoghue and O’Driscoll delivering substantial PB’s in their swims in that event. Naoise O’Driscoll having taken a big step this season delivered 100% PB swims in all of her frontcrawl events, whilst O’Donoghue posted strong results across her events. Eva Barrett delivered her best result for the weekend with a huge PB in the 200M Backcrawl to finish in 4th place, whilst Eva Martin made finals in the 200FC and just missed out on a further final in the 100M event having posted a new personal Best time. The TEAM showed it’s strength as the relays under 14 saw all of these girls deliver final placings on the clubs three teams who made the final of this event.

Having delivered a strong set of results in the younger age groups, the team continued it’s performance in the Older ages with Dayna Clegg and Grace Branagan leading the way in the Girls under 14 age group. On day one of the competition Branagan posted a super gold medal performance in the 100Backcrawl with Clegg in the silver medal spot, only to have the result reversed in the 200IM event with Clegg taking gold and Branagan picking up the silver medal. Their team-mate Anne-Marie Finn who had a superb weekend finishing day one with a silver medal in the 800FC event and then then picked up a 4th place in the 200IM event. The final result for the team on day 1 saw Ciara Robinson finish 6th in the tough 200Butterfly event and then all girls combined to see TEAM TSC finish in gold and Silver medal positions on the 4 x 50 Medley Relays. The Gold medal Team of Branagan, O’Driscoll, Clegg and Finn narrowly beat the silver medal team of Kychygina, Bryson, Robinson and Barrett in a nailbiting finish to see these girls go 1-2 at the top of the national podium.

On Day 2 the results kept on coming with Clegg delivering another National title in the 400FC, Branagan was 3rd and Finn 4th in the same event. Clegg continued with a 5th place in the 100Butterfly event, whilst Finn posted a final placing and 7th place finish in the 200M Breastroke. The Teams teamed up again with another Gold medal for Clegg, Branagan, O’Driscoll and Finn in the Freestyle relay, with 4th place (Kychygina, Robinson, Bryson, Barrett) and 8th place (Martin, Larkin, O’Donoghue - final, O’Driscoll & O’Keeffe - heat)finishes to the two other teams in the club. As the evening progressed Branagan posted another National Title in the 100FC, with Clegg in Silver and Finn in 4th place. Ciara Robinson, Michelle Larkin and Niam O’Keeffe All delivered strong swims in that event.

As the meet progressed to Day 3, Finn picked up another bronze medal in the 400IM with Robinson finishing in 8th place in the same event. The results continued to come as Branagan won the 200BC with Clegg in 2nd place and Robinson and O’Keeffe finishing with PB swims. Finn made the final of the 100BS and Larkin, like O’Keeffe in her first Division 1 outing delivered strong PB’s in the event also. The final event on day three saw Clegg finish her weekend with another National Title in the 200FC, Branagan with a superb PB for the silver and Finn in 5th place. Again Larkin and Robinson finished the weekend with strong results and PB swims.

In the boys events Graham Field and John Martin followed the lead in their U15 age group with Field finishing in 6th in the 200BF on day one and both he and Martin posting PB swims in the 200IM. Field continued in to Day 2 with a strong PB and another 6th place result in the 400IM before teaming up with Martin and both boys making the final in the 100BF. Later in the afternoon Martin, having seen both he and Field post PB’s in the morning heats of the FC, stood on the block to deliver a superb silver medal performance in the mens 100FC with a fantastic new PB. On the final day of competition Field, in an unusual event for him, showed his versatility with a 6th place finish in the 200BC, while Martin delivered another PB to qualify for the final of the 200FC, finishing in 8th place.

After a strong and tough year for the team, 14 of them now progress to the Irish Youth & Senior National Championships to compete in the older age groups. Dayna Clegg and Katrin Kychygina head to compete in the UK at the British Age-Group Championships, whilst Branagan heads to the British Youth and Senior Championships following the Irish Champs to compete against the best in the UK.

Well done to the TEAM, Great results, a tremendous year so far and we wish you well for the remainder of the season.