Dawson Downs 50 Back Scottish Record At McCullagh Memorial Meet

2017 SU INTERNATIONAL/DAVE MCCULLAGH MEMORIAL MEET

• Friday, February 3rd – Sunday, February 5th
• Bangor Aurora Aquatic & Leisure Complex, Northern Ireland
• Prelims at 9:45am local (4:45am Eastern)/Finals at 5:30pm local (12:30pm Eastern), Sunday at 4:30pm local (11:30am Eastern)
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The 2017 Dave McCullagh Memorial Meet kicked off in Northern Ireland today, with several records going down to set the tone. With this meet, along with the Irish National Championships, serving as a qualifying competition for the European Junior Championships, World Championships, European Youth Olympic Festival, World University Games, European Championships, and World Junior Championships, top swimmers from the region are taking to the pool to notch necessary qualification times.

Irish swimmer Danielle Hill was one of the top young performers on the day, racing to a swift mark of 28.76 in the women’s 50m backstroke. Although the Larne swimmer wound up with the silver, her time today overtook her own previous National Record of 29.15 she’s held since March of 2015.

Taking the gold in the sprint back was Scottish star Kathleen Dawson.  The 19-year-old University of Stirling swimmer scored a new National Record in tonight’s race, touching in 28.16 to overtake her own pervious time of 28.20 from last summer. Dawson already owns the 100m and 200m backstroke Scottish National Records as well. Her time tonight now ranks her as the 4th-fastest swimmer in the world thus far this season.

Stirling teammate Duncan Scott made his meet debut in the men’s 200m butterfly, taking the win in 1:59.52 to represent the only sub-2-minute swimmer on the night. Scott’s time was just over the 1:59.33 he produced last week while competing at the Euro Meet in Luxembourg.