IOur Lady’s Bower 4 x 50-meter Intermediate Freestyle swim team produced a fantastic swim at the Leisureland Swimming Complex in Galway last weekend to win the All Ireland Intermediate Freestyle Relay.Coach Johnny Powell had been optimistic coming into these Championships that the Bower Quartet would feature in the medals.
He played his trump card by positioning of swimmers handing the lead-off leg to Connacht Squad Swimmer Niamh McNamara (14) who had a fantastic swim being just 0.41 of a second behind Belfast Royal Academy and 0.24 of a second behind Regina Mundi of Cork both schools having placed their older and faster swimmers first.
Niamh handed over to Olywn Sheridan who swam an amazing 1.3 second personal best time her 50m leg of 29.42 reducing the gap to 0.31and 0.18 Seconds. Olywn handed over to Eimear Corry with the Swim race of the Championships unfolding, Eimear had the swim of her life and reduced the gap to 0.27 and 0.18 Seconds.
Next up was Balllinasloe native and triathlete Meadbh Hurst, the atmosphere was now highly charged but Meadbh was cool and gradually hauled back the slender lead held by the other schools.
The decision to have Meadbh swim the anchor leg proving crucial, in the final 10m and to howls of delight from the Athlone contingent she drew level, a packed spectator area on its feet she pulled away and hit the wall 0.34 secs in front and in a time of 1:59:32 the quartet having broken the magical 2 min barrier. A delighted Coach Johnny Powell noted that it was a tremendous team performance by a very dedicated and disciplined group of swimmers. Niamh, Olywn and Meadbh are eligible to swim in the same age group next year.
The same group of girls had earlier been pipped for a medal in the 200m Medley relay.
In the Junior relay events the team of Caitlin Dully (13), Tara Dully (13), Aoife Kelly (13) and Orla Mooney (14) the girls had great performances in the Medley and Freestyle relays finishing in 7th and 5th place. Both Aoife and Tara are eligible to swim in the same age group next year.
Niamh McNamara qualified for the Intermediate 100m freestyle and butter fly finals in times of 63.35 and 1:11:37and finished 6th and 4th. Niamh is eligible to swim Intermediate again in 2012.
Caitlin Dully competed in the 100m butterfly and freestyle . Caitlin qualified for the 100m Butterfly and was beaten by 0.71 Sec for a medal position.
Emma Fahy(17) had a great swims in the 100 Freestyle heaths and finals winning a bronze medal in a time of 60.52 and a mere .27 of a second behind the winner.
Our Lady’s Bower All-Ireland weekend success follows on the heels of their Connacht Success, the Bower Swim Team this year was as follows,
Eimear Corry, Caitlin Dully, Tara Dully, Emma Fahy, Meadbh Hurst, Aoife Kelly, Sinead Reidy, Niamh McNamara, Orla Mooney, Olywn Sheridan
