St Mary's pupils make a splash in Dublin

At 8 am, Sunday 12^th February, four bleary eyed St Mary’s pupils arrive at the National Aquatic Centre just outside Dublin, to represent the School in the Irish Minor Schools Championship.

In order to be here, the swimmers had to qualify through the Ulster Schools Gala back in October 2016. The team was Alana Burns-Atkin (P7), Lauren Burns-Atkin (P5), Mychaela McEvoy (P5), Cathal Hill (P4) and they were cheered on by Samantha Burns-Atkin (P4). For Alana, it was going to be a long day as all her races were in the afternoon.

Due to the number of children entered the results would be decided on the fastest times in the heats, there would be no finals like at the Ulster School Gala.

First up to compete was Lauren in the 50m Breaststroke, she came into this event ranked 7^th in her age group. She swam brilliantly and was level with the faster seeded girls throughout. Lauren knocked over a second off her PB and finished 5^th, only missing out on 3^rd place by ½ a second.

Next up to swim was Cathal in the 50m Breaststroke. Cathal’s age group meant he was swimming against some swimmers who were a year older than him. Cathal came into this event seeded 10^th, he did himself and his family proud and swam well. Cathal knocked over a second off his PB and finished 9^th overall.

Next up it was Mychaela in the 50m Backstroke. Mychaela came into this seeded 28^th in her age group. Mychaela has been training well this season and came into this competition in good form. Mychaela swam an excellent race, knocking over 6 seconds off her PB. This moved her up in her age group and she finished 13^th overall.

Lauren was the last St Mary swimmer in the morning session, this time competing in the 50m Butterfly. This is a technical stroke and not one that many swimmers favour. Lauren came into this seeded 7^th, it was a strong field though and despite knocking nearly one and a half seconds off her PB she finished 8^th overall.

This brought us into the afternoon session were Alana was St Mary’s only representation. Alana was entered into the 100 Individual Medley and 50m Backstroke. Alana was seeded 14^th in the 100IM she went into the event knowing that the other swimmers were very strong and was unsure of how she would do. She shouldn’t have worried as she swam strongly and knocked over 6 seconds off her PB, finishing 11^th overall. Again, the Backstroke had a strong field of swimmers, Alana again achieved a new PB knocking over a second off her previous best, finishing 22^nd overall. Unfortunately, this is Alana’s last year representing the School at swimming, she will hopefully get the opportunity to represent her next school at next year’s Schools Gala but I know she will have fond memories of her time representing St Mary’s.

All the swimmers should be proud of themselves, this was a new experience for some and one that will stay with them for a long time. They should be proud of their achievements in Dublin, as I’m sure their parents and School are proud of them. I would like to thank Geraldine Hill for looking after the swimmers in the morning for their warm up

I would also like to mention Madison Cairns (P5), Kate Smith (P5), Jan Boersma (P4) and Samantha Burns-Atkin. All who swam at the Ulster Schools Gala, some missing out on qualifying for Dublin by the smallest margins. St Mary’s has a strong swimming team going forward and hopefully more of the School swimmers will qualify for Dublin next year.

Well Done Everyone!