Photos: Drogheda Swim Club
Drogheda Swim Club has celebrated another strong year in the pool with its annual summer outing and awards ceremony at Aqualough in Flynn Park.
The event, held on Sunday, 30th August, brought swimmers from across the club together for a day of activities, socialising and recognition of achievements from the past season.
Awards were presented for teamwork, effort, positive behaviour and being a good role model, while Certificates of Excellence were also presented to nominees for the main awards.
Two teenage swimmers who have also taken on coaching roles within the club, Lauren Fearn and Dan Cojocaru, received role model awards.
Top awards for Jessica Sweeney and Stan Penk
The overall female swimmer award went to Jessica Sweeney following another highly successful season.
Jessica was named Leinster Swimmer of the Meet for the third year in a row after winning six gold medals at the Leinster Age Group Championship in the UL Arena in Limerick.
She also won gold at the McCullagh International Championship, three silver medals at the Irish Age Group Summer Nationals and gold at the Leinster Senior Schools Competition.
She was also selected for the School Inter Provincial Cup for the second year in a row.
Jessica’s national form was reflected at the Irish Summer National Age Group Championships, where she claimed silver in the 50m breaststroke, with clubmate Sophia Winterbach taking bronze in the same race.
The overall male swimmer award went to Stan Penk, who won gold at the Irish Age Group Summer Nationals.
He was also part of relay teams that won medals at both the Leinster and Irish Age Group Championships.
Competition awards
The Senior Competition Award went to Titas Bikirisas, who qualified consistently for finals at regional, national and international meets.
He won silver at the National Irish Open and bronze at the Leinster Senior Schools Competition.
Titas was also the youngest swimmer in the over-18 age category to make a final at the Irish Youth and Senior Summer Nationals this summer.
The Junior Competition Award was presented to Sophia Winterbach.
Sophia won five gold medals at the Leinster Age Group Championship in UL, bronze at the McCullagh International Championship, bronze at the Leinster Senior Schools Competition and two bronze medals at the Irish Summer National Age Group Championships.
Her national medal haul included bronze in the 50m breaststroke and bronze in the 200m breaststroke.
Swimmers recognise their teammates
The Senior Competition Swimmer’s Swimmer award went to Victor Virlan.
Victor enjoyed a strong year which included two gold, three silver and one bronze medal at the Leinster Age Group Championship, along with one gold, one silver and three bronze medals at the Irish Age Group Championship.
At the national championships, he won the 50m butterfly in 28.05 and was also part of Drogheda’s gold-medal winning mixed 13–14 medley relay team.
The Junior Competition Swimmer’s Swimmer award went to Fionn Molloy.
Fionn won silver at the Community Games in Kilkenny and was part of the Ballymakenny College relay team which won gold at the Leinster Senior Schools Competition and silver at the National Senior Schools Competition.
Other group awards and Swimmer’s Swimmer awards went to James Byrne, Max Cojocaru, Sadie Brannigan, Filip Penk, Leo Raskazov and Alex Wall.
Strong finish to the season
The club’s final major pool competition of the season was the 2026 Irish Youth and Senior Summer Nationals at the National Aquatic Centre.
Ten Drogheda Swim Club swimmers competed at the championships, with several reaching finals against some of the country’s leading swimmers. Swim Ireland confirms the event took place from 21st to 25th July.
Titas Bikirisas was among the club’s medal winners, taking silver.
The season also included further success in open water.
At the Boyne Swim, Dylan Brady finished first and Ethan James came third, according to the club.
Drogheda Swim Club has had a strong presence in open-water competition in recent seasons, with Dylan Brady also winning the 2025 Boyne Swim overall at just 16 years of age.
After a short break, swimmers are now back in training ahead of the opening competitions of the new season in October.
The club thanked its coaches, committee members, volunteers and parents for their support throughout the year and for helping swimmers develop both in training and competition.
