Teams from across Ireland competed in the annual Inter-Varsities Swimming Championships in the Kingfisher Fitness Club, in Galway over the weekend.The competition serves as the main competition for colleges and universities in Ireland.
Aiming to defend their title for the third year in a row, University College Dublin(UCD) put together a strong team which included Irish record holder Shauna O’Brien and Alex Murphy, both of them fresh off qualifying for the World University Games last weekend.
With the heats session taking place on the Friday and the finals session taking place the following morning, all swimmers had to ensure they swam fast to guarantee their spot in the finals in order to score valuable points for their colleges.
After the heats session NUI Galway had put in a strong performance to place many swimmers in the finals and set up an exciting challenge for UCD.
Although NUI Galway put in a strong fight, UCD stormed to victory in the men’s and women’s events and claimed the overall title. This is the third year in a row that UCD have won the clean sweep of all events.
Final points results:
Men’s
1st: UCD 116
2nd: NUI Galway 85
3rd: UL 81
Women’s
1st: UCD 113
2nd: NUI Galway 95
3rd: UL 42
Overall
1st: UCD 229
2nd: NUI Galway 180
3rd: UL 105
Mike McCarthy, University College Dublin
Mike McCarthy, University College Dublin
The coach did a good job training the team.