LeBlanc Leads Varsity Reds
(HALIFAX, NS) The first day of competition at the 2016 Subway AUS Swimming Championships has wrapped up, and the Dalhousie Tigers have taken a commanding lead, winning nine of 10 individual events, plus both 400m freestyle relays.
The Tigers stand atop the standings in both the men's and women's competitions.
Dal's Katherine Webster led the Tigers to a podium sweep in the first event of the evening, winning the 200m freestyle event with AUS female rookie of the year Lise Cinq-Mars and Lucy Macleod following close behind. Webster followed up the win with another gold medal in the 100m breaststroke a short time later. Acadia's Hannah Doiron and Mt. A's Zoee Leblanc were second and third, respectively.
AUS female swimmer of the year, Phoebe Lenderyou set a new AUS record in the 100m butterfly, beating her time at last year's AUS championship by seven tenths of a second. Acadia's Alison MacEachern and Dal's Ainsley Fraser won silver and bronze.
Rachel Shin led the Tigers in another podium sweep, taking first in the 400m IM. Teammates Annie Douglas and Claire Yurkovich were not far behind posting CIS qualifying times in second and third. Dalhousie (Lenderyou, Macleod, Cinq-Mars & Fraser) won the 400m freestyle relay. UNB and Mt. A were second and third.
The Varsity Reds' Charli LeBlanc was the sole non-Dal event winner, taking first in the 50m backstroke. Teammate Amanda Green was second and Rachel Shin third.
Even with an individual win she could've crowed about, LeBlanc chose to praise her freestyle relay teammates on their silver medal. "I felt like our team showed some great talent tonight," said LeBlanc. "Kayla Martin, our first year swimmer on the team, did an amazing job. I honestly couldn't be more proud of our team today."
"I'm very pleased with the performances tonight," said Varsity Reds head coach Robin Ferdinand. "The obvious highlights of the were the medal performances, the 1-2 finish in the womens 50 back, plus the silver in the relay, in a tight battle."
Ferdinand says even at this point in the season, her athletes are improving. "There were lots of exciting races and lifetime bests performed by both the men and women. The number of final swims tonight is a great indication that it should be a fast weekend in the pool."
At the end of the first day of competition, the team standings are as follows:
Women's
Dalhousie - 148
University of New Brunswick - 60
Acadia - 48
Mount Allison - 40
University of Prince Edward Island - 17
Men's
Dalhousie - 160
Memorial - 46
Acadia - 40
Mount Allison - 34
University of New Brunswick - 27
University of Prince Edward Island - 17