Leinster and National Championships - Success for Kilkenny Swimmers

The culmination of the short course (25 metre pool) season saw Kilkenny swimmer compete in both the Leinster and National Championships. The Leinster Championships took place in late November and Kilkenny swimmers enjoyed a very successful two day gala. 

Success came across all strokes including relays.  In the freestyle long distance races there was medals won by Paddy Cuddihy, Abby Cunningham and Nessa Godden. Paddy & Abby doubled up for gold in the Junior 1500 metres. In breaststroke Abby Cunningham and Brendan Pretorious won bronze over 100 and 200 metres respectively. 

The ends of day 1 brought further success to Kilkenny as Maria Godden, Nyah Vaughan, Abby Cunningham and Nessa Godden teamed up to claim bronze in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay.  

The Sunday of the two day gala saw lots of PB’s, seasons bests and medals.  In the 100m breaststroke Brendan Pretorious climbed a step higher on the podium by winning silver while Abby climbed two steps to win gold in the 200 metres. In the 200m backstroke Paddy Cuddihy and Darran Yalnazov won gold and bronze respectively while  Paddy showed he can sprint a little also when claiming bronze in the 50m backstroke. 

Two silver medals came our way courtesy of Matthew McAviney in the 200m butterfly and Maria Godden over the same distance in freestyle, 

Other swimmers to reach finals were Erin Morrissey, Kate Maher, Molly Bollard, Nessa Godden, Conor Carroll, Sean Cooke, Marcas Bowen, Dan Rohan and Ethan Kenny.

Winter Nationals

At the Irish Winter Nationals in mid December in the National Aquatic Centre, it was Nessa Godden’s turn to shine. On day one she won bronze in the 800m junior freestyle. On day two over the longest pool based swimming race, the 1500m Nessa earned two silver medals in the one race! These came courtesy of her coming second in the open age group and second in the junior age group. 

Brogan McAviney who trains in the National Centre Limerick won silver in the 200 butterfly. There was not ill effects from the European Short Course Championships as Maria Godden won gold in the 400m freestyle and 200m backstroke.

Kilkenny swimmers to make finals at this gala were Paddy Cuddihy, Matthew McAviney and Abby Cunningham.