McSharry Sets a New Irish Junior Record in the 100 Breaststroke

2016 IRISH OPEN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• April 28th-May 1st, 2016
• Prelims 9:45AM local time/Finals 5:30PM local time
• Psych Sheets
• Live results

16 year old Mona McSharry set a new Irish junior record in the women’s 100 breaststroke winning the event at Irish Open Swimming Championships in a time of 1:08.75. McSharry, who won the event by over three seconds, broke her own record of 1:08.79 which she posted in the semi-final on Friday evening.

This was the second championship title for McSharry who won the 50 breaststroke earlier in the competition.

Another one of Ireland’s young star’s, 16 year old Conor Ferguson, had his second crack at qualifying for Rio in the men’s 100 backstroke. Ferguson won the event on Friday night, but missed the FINA A standard by five one-hundredths of a second.

Ferguson led off a 4 x 100 medley relay in a time of 54.91, well off the time of 54.41 that he posted in last night’s final. Ferguson, Alex Murphy, Brendan Hyland and Jordan Sloan came together hoping to achieve a world’s top 16 time, which would enable the nation to enter a team in the event in Rio.

They finished in a time of 3:42.39, which equates to a 28th place ranking.

Alex Murphy, who represented Ireland at the 2015 World Championships, won the men’s 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:01.57. He was a full second off of the Olympic A standard of 1:00.57 and half a second over his lifetime best of 1:01.01. Murphy will have another opportunity to qualify at the upcoming European Championships.

Danielle Hill collected her second and third Irish titles on Saturday evening. Hill, who won the Irish title in the 100 backstroke on Friday, was the nation’s top swimmer in the 100 freestyle and 200 backstroke.

Rachel Bethel also picked up her second title in the women’s 400 freestyle winning the event in a time of 4:21.80.

Shauna O’Brien was the top qualifier for the 100 butterfly final posting a 1:00.41 in Saturday evening’s semi-final. O’Brien was just off her national record of 1:00.21.

Irish Swimming contributed to this report.

Full Results Day 3

Women 100m Freestyle Final: 1^st *J Meynen Luxembourg 55.87 2^nd *T Bruce Scotland 56.98 3^rd *D Villars Switzerland 57.00 5^th D Hill Larne 58.29

Men 100m Freestyle Final: 1^st C Coulter Ards 50.13 2^nd Gerry Quinn Longford 50.53 3^rd *Shane Ryan NAC 50.58
Women 100m Breaststroke Final: 1^st M McSharry Marlins 1:08.75 IJR 2^nd N Coyne Tallaght 1:12.28 3^rd A Haughey Aer Lingus 1:12.32

Men 100m Breaststroke Final: 1^st A Murphy UCD 1:01.57 2^nd D Greene UCD 1:02.11 3^rd J Graham Bangor 1:02.51

Women 400m Freestyle Final: 1^st R Bethel Lisburn 4:21.80 2^nd S Russell Canada 4:23.50 3^rd K Hoyle Wales 4:27.22

Men 400m Freestyle Final: 1^st A Meegan Aer Lingus 4:02.26 2^nd B Gibbons Athlone 4:04.23 3^rd J Mooney Limerick 4:05.16

Women 200m Backstroke Final: 1^st *K Steins Latvia 2:14.87 2^nd D Hill Larne 2:16.86 3^rd A Cunningham Sundays Well 2:19.32

Men 200m Backstroke Final: 1^st *L Rauftlin 2:01.64 Switzerland 2^nd *G Feldbergs  Switzerland 2:03.68 3^rd R McEvoy Ennis 2:05.24

Women 4x100m Medley Team Relay: 1^st  Ards 4:24.58 2^nd *Aer Lingus 4:27.72 3^rd Trojan A 4:34.61

Men 4x100m Medley Team Relay: 1^st UCD 3:38.46 2^nd Ards 3:51.56 3^rd Bangor 3:566.91

*foreign swimmer

Qualification Times Met (selection of athletes for all events will be made at a later date)

LEN European Swimming & Open Water Championships, 16^th – 22^nd May, London, United Kingdom

Qualifiers: Fiona Doyle, Christopher Bryan (Open Water, July), Jordan Sloan, Conor Ferguson, Brendan Hyland, Antoinette Neamt, Sycerika McMahon, Dan Sweeney, Nicholas Quinn, Shane Ryan, Alex Murphy, Mona McSharry, Danielle Hill

European Junior Swimming Championships, 6^th – 10^th July 2016, Hungary

Qualifiers: Rachel Bethel, Niamh Coyne, Conor Ferguson, Danielle Hill, Rory McEvoy, Mona McSharry, Antoinette Neamt, Emma Reid, Ellen Walshe, Gerry Quinn, Iseult Hayes, Emma Moloney, Ally Cunningham, Rebecca Reid

Olympic Games, 6^th – 20^th August 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Qualifiers: Fiona Doyle (Swimming), Oliver Dingley (Diving), Shane Ryan (Swimming), Nicholas Quinn (Swimming)