Sinclair Earns U SPORTS Experience
(TORONTO, ON) The UNB REDS sent two swimmers to the recent U SPORTS Championships, in Toronto, and they posted decent results.
Blake Kingston swam in the ‘A final’ of the men’s 50-metre breaststroke, finishing 8th in a personal best time of 27.95 seconds, a new Atlantic University Sport record.
That race saw all eight swimmers finish within 43/100ths of a second.
In the 100-metre breaststroke, Kingston qualified for the ‘B final,’ finishing 5th good for 13th overall.
In the 200-metre, he swam in the ‘C final,’ finishing 7th, good for 23rd overall.
“I’m happy with the weekend,” said Kingston. “It’s fun to experience racing against the best swimmers from all of U SPORTS. I was really excited to get into an A final for the first time and break the AUS record in the process. It was a nice swim to end the season with.”
Emma Sinclair reached the ‘C final’ in the women’s 50-metre butterfly, finishing 7th in a time of 28.65 seconds, good for 23rd overall.
Sinclair swam preliminaries in the 100 and 200 metre butterfly events, and the 50 metre freestyle, but did not advance.
“I’m excited to have had the opportunity to race at U SPORTS for the first time,” said Sinclair. “It was a lot of fun to swim with people from other conferences. Overall, it was a great way to end the season.”
“The weekend was a significant step forward for them as competitors,” said REDS’ head coach Marta Belsh. “Blake improved his time while racing the best in the country. Emma, competing at this level for the first time, got valuable experience to realign her goals for next year. As a team, this marks a positive direction. Competing at this level is important to us, and this experience will help us build even greater momentum for next season.”
STORY BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS: U SPORTS