F-Teamers Make Waves at Irish Champs
Grace Davison, Ellen Walsh and Ellie McCartney recently competed in the Irish Open National Swimming Championships, where they delivered exceptional performances. Grace achieved a personal best time in the 50m freestyle and set a new Irish Junior Record, while also hitting qualifying times. Ellen had an exceptional meet, securing first place in both the 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley events, and achieving her fastest ever time in the 100 fly.
Grace achieved a massive personal best in the 50m freestyle with a time of 25.88, earning her 4th place and setting a new Irish Junior Record. She also qualified for European Juniors, European Under 23s, and the Youth Commonwealth Games. In the 100m freestyle, she achieved another personal best with a time of 56.93, also earning 4th place and setting a new Irish Junior Record. She felt extremely happy with her performance, and with the fact that she achieved all her goals for the meet without tapering.
Ellen won both the 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley. Her time of 57.96 in the 100m fly was her fastest ever and she was pleased with her swim. In the 200m individual medley, she was under the A standard for the FINA World Championships in Japan. Despite a busy schedule leading up to the meet, she had some goals that she didn't quite achieve but is still on track for World Champs in Japan.
Ellie McCartney also raced the 200m individual medley, swimming a personal best of 2:14.93 and earning second place to Ellen. Her time ranked her 11th in Europe so far this year and achieved the consideration times for Commonwealth Youths, European Juniors, and European U23s. In the 100m breaststroke, she swam a personal best time of 1:09.63 and earned third behind Mona McSharry, the F-Teamer who moved to college in the US and continues to post impressive times in all breastroke events. Overall, McCartney was rested going into the meet and had a good base to start from, and she achieved her goals of performing well and earning consideration times for major upcoming events such as the Commonwealth Games and the European Juniors. We can expect to see more great performances from McCartney in the future.
As for our Irish F-Teamers, Grace’s next competitions will be at the European Juniors and European Under 23s, for which she feels on track. She will also be attending a training camp in Mallorca and competing in the Glasgow International. While Ellen will be training in Ireland with her coach and will be competing in Mare Nostrum and Settle Colli. Ellie McCartney will be racing Mare Nostrum then onto Commonwealth and European Juniors.
Well done to Grace, Ellen and Ellie we can’t wait to see what the rest of the season brings for you!