Varsity Reds end home swim meet with strong performances

The UNB swim team left it all in the pool in two days of racing on their home turf

November 2, 2014

The Amby Legere AUS Invitational came to a close on Sunday morning at the Sir Max Aitken Pool.

After a respectable showing during Saturday's events, UNB Varsity Reds head coach Robin Ferdinand was even more pleased with her team's showing on Sunday.

"Today was definitely better. People were getting up and racing," said Ferdinand. "We had stronger events for our team today so that helped too."

Ferdinand added that by doing well in the final portion of the meet, it shows that the Varsity Reds' fitness levels are good.

"Each session we seemed to get better and better at racing. The whole idea is, since we're still in full training, is to get good races in and then in three weeks we'll get ready to swim really fast and have top performances at Dalhousie."

The Varsity Reds did particularly well in the 50m butterfly on Sunday with six swimmers finishing in the top 10 on the women's side and two on the men's side. UNB's Allison Sommers finished first in the women's race with a time of 30.56 while Jessica LeBlanc finished second with a time of 30.65.

"We seem to have a whole lot of girls that are really strong in the 50m fly – just like the 50m back yesterday. Those are strong events [for our team] right now."

Ferdinand said men's swimmers Brendon Warren and Scott Mills both had strong weekends. Warren finished second in the men's 400m free on Sunday while Mills came in second in the men's 100m back.

"Both had really, really good performances. Those would probably be the standouts on the men's side."

Warren, a Plaster Rock native, had several friends and family in the crowd over the weekend.

"The support from his hometown contributed to him swimming fast," said Ferdinand.

On the women's side, Ferdinand said sisters Jessica and Charli LeBlanc had a strong weekend along with Amanda Greene.

Up next for the Varsity Reds is a meet at Dalhousie University from Nov. 22-23. Ferdinand said there are some minor things she would like her team to work on between now and then.

Jamie Tozer for UNB Sports Information