LeBlanc leads V-Reds at Day One of AUS Championship

(HALIFAX, N.S.) Rookie Charli LeBlanc led the charge for the UNB Varsity Reds on Day One of the AUS swimming championship at Dalhousie University. 

LeBlanc, who qualified for the national championship in the 50m backstroke earlier this year, placed second in that event on Friday night with a new personal best time of 29.31s. 

This time also qualifies LeBlanc for the Pan Am Games trials in Toronto and Senior Nationals this summer. LeBlanc is the sole Varsity Red to make it to the podium so far this championship.

Probably the most exciting swim of the evening came from LeBlanc's sister Jessica LeBlanc in the 400m IM. Jessica LeBlanc was in a very tight race for third that had the entire V-Reds squad screaming from the sidelines. She eventually finished fifth by mere fractions of a second.

UNB head coach Robin Ferdinand says the team swam with a lot of heart on Friday.

"People were getting up and racing," Ferdinand said. "We had tons of lifetime best times. We're not getting as many podium finishes as we wanted, but we can only control what we can control which is how fast we are in the pool."

Also strong for UNB today was Cassey Mooney, who placed fourth in the 100m breast with a time of 1:13.22. Allison Somers was fourth in the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:50.60.

The V-Reds have some big swims coming up tomorrow, with top contenders in the women's 50m fly and 50m breaststroke. Action gets underway at the Dalplex with preliminaries at 10am.