Seven swimmers from Lisburn City Swimming Club traveled to Limerick to compete in the Irish Age Group Championships Division II. This competition was held over 3 days with swimmers competing in 6 individual events. For everyone on the team, this was their first experience of traveling to an away competition and staying together as a team under the directorship of  Team Managers and a Coach.

Paige McKeown (14) the eldest on the team performed exceptionally well qualifying for 5 out of a possible 6 finals and winning a very well deserved bronze medal in the 200 freestyle, 0.7 seconds separating 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th places. Alex Walker (11) had a fantastic meet, clocking up pb’s in all his events and achieving three top 7 finishes, all the more credible as he was in the younger age band and competing against 12 year olds. Lauren Gourley (12) proved that her commitment to training paid off when she achieved excellent pb’s in all her events. Lauren qualified for the 100 butterfly final, finishing a credible 5^th place after a nail biting race which saw 0.55 secs separate 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th  place. Lauren also finished inside the top 10 in her 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. Ruth Russell (11) was another swimmer who also had excellent pb’s and claimed 3 club records in the 200 IM, 100 freestyle and 50 backcrawl. Alexandra Hunter (11), the youngest competitor on the team, swam well over the 3 days of competition and finished the meet with a 5 sec pb in her 200 freestyle. Zoë Smyth (11) also swam well, competing in all 6 events after a fraught few months coping with health problems. Cameron McAteer (11) joined the team one day later due to illness but made up for lost time by taking 14 secs off his 100 breaststroke time and 3 secs off his 200 freestyle, finishing in 10^th place.

The 11-12 girls freestyle relay team consisting of Alexandra Hunter, Lauren Gourley, Zoë Smyth and Ruth Russell were the fastest qualifiers for the final so nerves were fraught at the prospect of possibly winning a medal. Coach, Stan Shepperd, gave the girls the encouragement they needed, as did the rest of the team and the parents in the gallery and the girls swam an amazingly 3 secs faster than the heat to win the gold medal, 4 secs ahead of their nearest rivals.

The following day, the same quartet of Ruth Russell on back, Zoe Smyth on breast, Lauren Gourley on fly and Alexandra Hunter on free, were again the fastest qualifiers in the medley relay, just 3 secs separating the top 3 teams. After the backstroke and breaststroke lengths of the relay, the Lisburn supporters were frantically shouting as there was nothing to separate all the teams. Lauren Gourley swam a fantastic 50 butterfly to bring Lisburn slightly into the lead. Alexandra Hunter was last to go in the freestyle and dived in just a split second before the other 2 teams. With the team shouting and the gallery roaring with support, Alexandra swam a new pb and pulled ahead to touch in first place and clinch another gold medal for the team finishing just one sec ahead of 2^nd and 3^rd place which saw 0.02 secs separating them. All the girls swam new pb’s in the final and the gold medal was well deserved.  This put the team in very high spirits and they continued to swim well for the rest of the meet and enjoy the camaraderie of their team mates. A big thank you goes to the Team Managers, Wendy Smyth and Karen Haskins and to the Coach, Stan Shepperd as well as the parents for all their support over the weekend.

Div II Team 09 with Coach Stan Shepperd