Silver Medal Highlights REDS Day 1 At AUS
(HALIFAX, NS) The UNB REDS claimed the silver medal in the women’s 4-by-100-metre freestyle relay on day one of the Subway Atlantic University Sport Swimming Championships, Friday evening, in Halifax.
The team of Jennifer Moore, Sophie Casey, Lauren Goodine, and Alexie Sanford finished behind Dal. They beat Memorial to the wall by less than a second.
“It felt great to finish off the relay, we were all feeding off each other’s energy and we knew we had a good shot of medaling,” said Sanford. “Everyone on the team came through and had an amazing race.”
Moore swam a new personal best as she staked UNB to a good lead in her opening leg.
“I could not be more proud of my team for giving it their all when it got very close,” said Moore. “Alexie pulled ahead in the last leg and brought our team to a silver medal. The level of excitement the three of us had, behind the block, watching her bring home that medal was beyond words. We certainly appreciated the cheering from our teammates on the sidelines throughout the race, and well after.”
Sanford led the REDS on Friday. She swam to a 4th place finish in the women’s 200 metre freestyle before anchoring the relay medal winning effort.
“I knew coming into the relay off my free swim that I wanted to put that same energy into it, and getting silver with the team felt amazing.”
In the women’s 200 metre freestyle, Goodine swam 7th and Jesse Collett won the B Final in a time that would’ve placed her 6th in the A Final.
Elsewhere, Casey was sixth in the women’s 100 metre breaststroke.
In the men’s competition, Blake Kingston was fourth in the 400 metre individual medley and seventh in the 100 metre breaststroke.
Matthew Croft was 7th in the men’s 400 metre individual medley.
“We had an incredible first day,” said REDS head coach Marta Belsh. “We had a huge amount of personal best times, qualified into finals in every event we swam, and raced fast and hard. The session tonight was very exciting and the silver medal in the relay was a testament to what this team is capable of. I’m very proud of all of them.”
After day one, UNB sits third in the women’s team standings, while the men are in fourth place.
Day two preliminaries go Saturday morning.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Trevor MacMillan/for Dal Athletics