Drogheda Swim Club made their annual trip to Monaghan for the Sliabh Beagh SC Christmas Cluster meet recently. Expertly run by Head Coach Pearse McGuigan and his dedicated team, 40 club swimmers took part over the two days of competition with distance events held on the evening before the main gala.
DSC had a number of younger swimmers make their 400m Freestyle (16 lengths) debuts in the first session. Szymon Kowalski (5.08.38) and Zaira Brady (5.25.76) both won their categories with huge PBs. Isla Matheson (5.43.67) and Gabi Jakimaviciute (5.47.59) placed second and third with Cillian Everrit (5.37.70) and Stan Penk (5.51.69) both finishing fourth. Dawid Wajgelt took victory in the older age group with a swift 4.54.70 while Ethan James went for more experience in the tough 400m IM placing third overall.
It was an early start on day two for the older ages which kicked off with victory for multi-national medallist, Jessica Sweeney, in the 100m Backstroke in a very fast 1.12.30. Jess dominated her category taking wins in the 200m Backstroke (2.35.70) and 100m Freestyle (1.02.93) as well as a very fast 28.74 split in the freestyle relay.
Lauren Fearn also medalled in the 100m Back picking up bronze in a new best time of 1.15.80 with Dawid Wajgelt and Szymon Kowalski both winning silver in PBs of 1.08.38 and 1.17.16. Backstroke specialist, Szymon also took gold over 200m while Grace Harmon, on her return to racing, showed perfect form to take a well-deserved bronze in the same event.
Lili Patchell only had one thing in mind in her favourite event, the 200m Breaststroke, and the current Leinster champion duly delivered with victory in a new PB of 3.15.85. Teammate Isla Mathieson finished close behind to take silver with the girls placing second and third over 100m.
Szymon Kowalski showed the 400m performance was no fluke when taking a win in the 200m Free in 2.26.43 – a 15 second improvement. Tiegen Lennon and Dawid Wajgelt took on one of the hardest events on the program, the 200m Butterfly and both survived the punishing 8 lengths with new targets to aim for in future meets. Senior members, Aidan Martin and Dan Cojocaru went head to head in the 100m Breast with Aidan hitting the wall in third place overall. Other club members taking part and swimming well were Aimee Rice, Augustus Terebeiza, Josh McArdle, Zac Morcross Sophie-Mai Finn and Artem Kulish.
It was the turn of the 12 and under age group in the afternoon, with the club having a number of swimmers taking part in competition for the first time.
Zaira Brady and Victor Virlan have been consistently top performers in their ages all season and it was no different today with Zaira taking victory in the 50m Backstroke, Butterfly and Breaststroke and silver in the 100m IM while Victor went 4 golds from 4 events in the 100m Free and IM and 50m Back and Butterfly.
Summer National finalist, Adam Kozak, was in confident mood before the start if the 50m Breaststroke and with good reason, as he smashed his PB taking the win in a very fast 40.83 while Frankie Sweeney delivered her best competitive performance to date with a 30 second improvement in the 100m IM to pick up silver in 1.40.26. Tomek Kowalski was in good form collecting gold in the 50m Fly, silvers in the 100m IM and 100m Free and bronze in the 50m Back. Maia Tang continues to improve with each outing and set new PBs in 3 of her 4 events.
Club members from the Novice and Development groups gained valuable racing experience at this meet with strong performances from Felix Ralea, Jeffery Black, Aaron Clarke, Oisin Brannigan, Aisling Taaffe, Michael Dunne, Veronica Jhuboo, James Byrne and James Taaffe.
With great support from coaches Magda Wajgelt and Fergal Finn and Team Manager, Emer Ní Dhabhis, this was another rewarding trip for Drogheda SC to the Clones Road pool.
