Ballymena success at Youth Championships

Ballymena Swimming Club swimmers competing in the recent Youth Championships were Claire O’Neill, Chris Best, David Wilson, Ross Little and Katrina Carson.
Claire, the only Ballymena competitor on the Friday night, swam a very good 200 IM in a time of 2.49.89 which placed her 8th in her age group. Over the weekend Claire swam the 100m backstroke in a time of 1.20.85,100m butterfly in1.19.81 which got her a place in the final and took her a few steps closer to breaking the club record for the event. She also achieved a final position with her breaststroke, with a time of 1.28.97.
Ross Little achieved 1.10.36 in 100m butterfly and1.15.56 in the backstroke.
Katrina Carson made the most of her one event of 100m breaststroke, reaching the final with the time of1.31.79.
David Wilson was the busiest over the weekend with four swims. This being his first Youth Championships, he didn’t waste any time settling in with two personal bests in the 100 freestyle in 1.05.18 , and the 200m freestyle in 2.25.23 .Better still came another two PBs in the100m butterfly in 1.13.54 and 100m backstroke in 1.17.54 resulting in him getting into both finals.
Chris Best, who has recently been recovering from flu, swam in two events. In 100m front crawl he swam a PB of 58.58 and made the final. He swam the 100m backstroke in 1.08.25, which shaved a couple more tenths off his club record and also got him the final and a silver medal.
Coach, Stuart Barker was quoted as saying “It was a great weekend of swimming from the guys and shows that we are taking big steps in the right direction. The hard work they have been putting in is showing in their times, finals reached, and medals won.”

Some of the competitors in the recent Youth Championships
David Wilson, Chris Best, Coach Stuart Barker, Katrina Carson and Claire O’Neill