SASA NORTH DISTRICT OPEN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, November 9th & Sunday, November 10th
- Aberdeen Aquatics Center, Aberdeen, Scotland
- SCM
- Results
Several Scottish and Irish swimming stars got some racing under their belts at the SASA North District Open Swimming Championships in Aberdeen this weekend. The University of Stirling, Edinburgh and Warrender Baths were just a few of the club represented by elite talent over the course of the 2-day affair.
In terms of the visiting competitors from Ireland, 18-year-old Ellen Walshe announced her presence in a big way, producing a new national record in the women’s 50m fly.
Entering this meet, Walshe’s personal best in the SCM edition of the 50m fly rested at the 27.36 notched this same time last year at the Leinster Championships. At the 2019 edition of the same meet last weekend, Walshe was 27.81.
Flash forward to Aberdeen and Walshe entered new territory, dipping under the 27-second threshold for the first time of her career in a time of 26.65. That led her straight to the top of the podium, overtaking the previous Irish national record of 26.68 Emma Reid put on the books in 2016.
Walshe wound up making a clean sweep of the women’s fly events before this SASA ND Open Championships meet was over, taking the 100m fly in 59.24 and the 200m fly in 2:10.68, with the former also checking in as a lifetime best.
Additional notable results from the meet are as follows:
- Newly-committed Tennessee Vol Mona McSharry took the women’s 100m breast in a time of 1:05.71, beating the field by over 1 1/2 seconds. She owns the Irish national record in a time of 1:05.01, so she was less than a second off that mark this weekend. McSharry also took the 50m free in 25.13 and the 50m breast in 30.99.
- Stirling’s Kathleen Dawson was successful in the 50m back and 100m back events, finishing with the gold in respective efforts of 26.82 and 57.89.
- Her teammate Craig Benson topped the men’s 100m and 200m breast events, registering times of 59.64 and 2:09.89.
- Aberdeen Olympic swimmer Hannah Miley took on a typical monster schedule, which saw her get on top of the 200m IM field in 2:14.12 and the 400m free field in 4:20.06. She also reaped silvers across the 200m free (2:00.25), 100m free (56.55), 200m breast (2:26.45) and 400m IM (4:41.24).
- Commonwealth Games champion Aimee Willmott was in the water, topping Miley in the 4IM in a time of 4:34.69. She also snagged the win in the 200m free, busting out a time of 1:57.75.
- Brendan Hyland of Ireland was also a multiple event winner, nailing a 100m free time of 49.48, a 200m fly mark of 1:56.39, a 100m fly mark of 53.13 and a 200m IM time of 2:00.47.
