Cork Swimming: Dolphin aces break relay record in Munster Championships

THE Munster Youth & Senior Long Course Championships, the premier meet on the regional calendar, took place at University of Limerick. 

The relay events always prove very popular for athletes and spectators. The Dolphin quartet, Orna Higgins, Shauna Murphy, Elin Manson and Lexi Dunne were the headline act on day one, when they broke a 22-year-old Munster Junior Record in the 4x100m medley relay. Their time of 4:42.73 demonstrated great teamwork and reflected their dedication to training. The team surpassed the previous record, from April 2002, which stood at 4:45.32.

The 12-year-old mixed team of Charlotte May Costello, Eoin Manson, Aoife Song and Seb Dunne enjoyed double success in freestyle and medley relays. There was also victory for the girls 13-14 400m medley relay. The team, Rene Malley, Clodagh Martin, Roisin Brannigan and Molly O’Halloran posted 5:06.96 to win ahead of the team from SWSC, Cara O’Farrell, Virag Szatmari, Beatriz Carvalho and Amy Murphy on 5:15.15 with Limerick in 3rd on 5:19.28.

Two teams from Dolphin went head to head in the senior 400m medley relay. The B team, Ben Merrigan, Senan Harvey, Ricky Fane and Noah Switzer 4:05.51, emerged victorious, ahead of the ‘A’ team, Neddie Irwin, Dmytro Cherkasov, Ewan Fane and Ewan Coleman 4:07.02. 

The team from SWSC, Sean Bugler, Balint Szatmari, Michael O’Driscoll and Marc Galland placed 3rd on 4:09.80. A change of personnel in the freestyle saw the Dolphin quartet, Noah Switzer, Senan Harvey, Sasha Lychuk and Dmytro Cherkasov emerge victorious 3:39.46 ahead of SWSC’s Mark Galland, Thomas Bugler, Balint Szatmari and Sean Bugler 3:48.23. The team from Celtic Waves placed 3rd on 3:53.76.

CHAMPIONS

The SWSC ladies, Izzy McGrath, Eva Harrington, Ellen Lee and Isabel Kidney were crowned champions in the senior 400m freestyle relay, 4:04.62. The Dolphin A team, Shauna Murphy, Abigael Logan, Orna Higgins and Lexi Dunne, placed 2nd on 4:10.99 and their ‘B’ team, Heather Fane, Ruby Swinburne, Emily Donohoe and Shonagh Ferriss placed 3rd on 4:17.10. The SWSC team also claimed victory in the 400m medley relay 4:34.05 with the Dolphin B team in 2nd on 4:42.05 and the ‘A’ team in 3rd with 4:49.02.

The Cork teams claimed all three podium places in the final event of the three-day meet, when the A team from Dolphin, Heather Fane, Senan Harvey, Jack Cassin and Lexi Dunne were the comfortable victors 4:13.72 ahead of SWSC, Izzy McGrath, Balint Szatmari, Sean Bugler and Eva Harrington 4:20.22 and the Dolphin B team, Ben Merrigan, Ricky Fane, Ruby Swinburne and Shauna Murphy placed 3rd with 4:26.41 in the 400m mixed medley relay.

In addition to her team success in the relays, Lexi Dunne was crowned Munster Champion on six occasions in her individual events. She began on day one with victory at 400m freestyle 4:46.83. In the evening finals she touched on 1:19.09 at 100m breaststroke and dipped under the 28-second barrier at 50m freestyle to win on 27.99 ahead of team mates Orna Higgins 29.02 and Shauna Murphy 29.11. 

On day two she posted 33.70 to claim the 50m breaststroke ahead of Lucy O’Brien, Limerick 34.47 and clubmate Shauna O’Brien in 3rd on 36.79. She returned to the blocks to swim a personal best time 2:11.94 for victory at 200m freestyle ahead of Sorcha Ni Riain, Limerick 2:18.56 and clubmate Abaigael Logan in 3rd on 2:19.49. On the final day, she once again went head to head with Lucy O’Brien, Limerick but got to the wall first, stopping the clock on 1:00.51, O’Brien on 1:01.88.

Younger brother Seb had four victories of his own, swimming in the 12-14 age group. He had two seconds to spare at 200m freestyle 2:35.53 ahead of Finn Byrne, Ballybunion 2:37.30. The two boys returned to the start blocks for the 200m IM final with Dunne again in pole 3:02.78 and Byrne on 3:04.17. On day two, he was the comfortable winner at 100m breaststroke 1:35.53 ahead of Conor Keogh, Ennis on 1:44.86. 

He then returned for the 100m freestyle where he had a battle royale with Finn Byrne. Dunne turned in 2nd place at the midway point, but a strong final 50m saw him overtake Byrne to win on 1:10.58 with Byrne on 1:10.67. On the final day, he had to settle for 2nd at 200m backstroke 3:01.87 behind Byrne on 2:56.14 and narrowly lost out to Byrne in the sprint 50m freestyle final 32.49 with Byrne taking the title on 32.37.