Amanda Green and Lauren Adam lead V-Reds to 2nd place
At the conclusion of the 2013 AUS Invitational Amby Legere Swim Meet held at UNB this past weekend the Varsity Reds women's team finished in second place while the men's team finished in third.
Second year Arts student Amanda Green was a stand-out on the women's team with a first place finish in the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:08.10 and a second place in the 50 backstroke with a time of :31.96. She also had two third place finishes: 50 fly and 200 back; and a fourth in the 50 freestyle.
"It's really good for this point in the season it's a good base for going forward," commented Green on her performance.
Looking ahead Green has high expectations and reachable goals. "I'd really like to medal at AUS [championships] and qualify for CIS this year in the 50 back."
First year student Lauren Adam also turned in some very respectable performances with a first place in the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:43.22 as well as a second and two third place finishes.
On the men's side the eighteen year old Eyad Albassiouny from Cairo, Egypt made a big impression putting points on the board in all events that he swam. Albassiouny placed first in the 100m and 200m butterfly posting: 57.17 and 2:08.13 respectively. He also had three second place finishes in the 50m freestyle and the 100m and 400 m individual medley.
Albassiouny is very happy to be at UNB and says that, "If this was the second best place on earth first place would be home and second is UNB."
He is used to training in a long course (50m) pool but is getting used to the Sir Max Aitken's short length of 25m. "Individually I did well, not setting any records, but I am happy with my performance. I've been swimming in this pool for one month so I'm getting used to it."
"I'm really pleased with the performances on both the male and female sides," said head coach Robin Ferdinand. "Our younger athletes are really stepping up, and, combined with our veteran experience it looks like we're going to have a really good team this year."
The Amby Legere Swim Meet was designated a "Think Pink" event; the first of two Think Pink" weekends this season for the Varsity Reds program.
"We weren't exactly sure how to get started - we have some ideas for next year. The athletes loved the pink shirts and pink caps and the idea of supporting breast cancer research," said Ferdinand.
In two weeks the Varsity Reds will head to the Jack Scholz Invitational at Acadia and then the AUS invitational at Dalhousie mid-November which is their focus meet for this 2013.
For further information on UNB swimming please contact:
Robin Ferdinand rferdina@unb.ca
506 453-5041