The 2017 Swim Ulster International/Dave McCullagh Memorial Meet at the Bangor Aurora Aquatic & Leisure Complex in Northern Ireland is set to take place this weekend, February 3rd-5th. The meet is named for the Irish Amateur Swimming Association’s first director, Dave McCullagh, who lost a battle with cancer in 2002.
The meet, along with the Irish National Championships, serves as a qualifying competition for the European Junior Championships, World Championships, European Youth Olympic Festival, World University Games, European Championships, and World Junior Championships.
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)
- LCM
- Meet Information
- Psych Sheets
Notable Competitors
19-year-old University of Stirling dynamo Duncan Scott leads the men’s field across several events, taking on the 100m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 200m IM over the course of the 3-day meet. After having earned two relay silver medals and a final appearance in the men’s 100m freestyle at the 2016 Olympic Games, young Scott has been on a tear regionally, taking multiple titles at the British Universities & Colleges Championships, as well as at December’s Scottish National Championships.
In addition to the Scottish and British 100m freestyle National Record Scott holds from Rio (48.01), the Stirling teen has also been making threats against the Scottish butterfly records as of late. At the Scottish Short Course Nationals in Edinburgh, Scott cranked out a 51.36 100m butterfly to snatch gold in a new personal best, falling just .01 shy of the Scottish National Record. He did manage to outright blast a new 200m butterfly Scottish SC Record however, taking the 200m distance at that same meet in a new record of 1:54.59.
Most recently long course, Scott scored the 100m freestyle win at the Euro Meet in Luxembourg, earning the only sub-49-second time of 48.75. He struck again in the 200m freestyle, earning gold in 1:47.94, while also finishing 2nd in the 200m butterfly just .27 behind Hungarian mainstay Laszlo Cseh in a time of 1:59.33.
Scott’s primary domestic rivals will be in attendance in Bangor, with both Cameron Brodie and Dan Wallace slated to take to the pool. Wallace sits as the top seed in both the men’s 200m freestyle and 200m IM, while Brodie enters the meet as a top 5 swimmer in both the 100m and 200m butterfly races. Look for this trio from Stirling to make multiple appearances on the podium this weekend.
On the women’s side, Kathleen Dawson is the runaway top seed in the 3 backstroke events, headed into the McCullagh Meet with the only sub-minute 100m backstroke entry time (59.68). Her 200m backstroke seed time of 2:09.62 also rests over 6 seconds faster than the entry time of her next closest competitor.