REDS Take Second Leg Of Dual Meet

(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB REDS won 17 of 22 events in Saturday's second leg of their Atlantic University Sport Dual Meet with the Mount Allison Mounties.

The REDS dominated the first leg, last Sunday, in Sackville.

Saturday's second leg saw UNB's Hannah MacLeod win the women's 50m and 100m butterfly events and help the REDS to victory in the women's 4-by-50m freestyle relay.

"We're all feeling great," said MacLeod, after the meet. "It's healthy competition in a low stress environment, but high fun and high competition and high performance."

Other highlights for the REDS included Susana Somerton's win in the women's 100m backstroke and Élodie Martin's victory in the women's 100m breaststroke. Hannah Casey won the women's 400m freestyle.

On the men's side of the competition, UNB's Matthew Croft won the 100m breaststroke and the 800m freestyle, while Craig Bush won the 400m freestyle.

"We've been in a really hard block of training, but to be able to go out and get some good performances was nice," said Bush, who also part of UNB's winning teams in the men's 4-by-50m freestyle relay and 4-by-100m medley relay.

"Times aren't that important in a meet like this, it's about race strategy," he added. "How do you get out, how do you attack the walls, that kind of thing, so that when we get to the conference championship, we've prepared for it when we're tired and sore, and when we're feeling good, we can execute with no issues."

Among the Mounties winners were Jordan Thomas, who won the women's 50m breaststroke and Sebastian Cariaga, who won the men's 50m backstroke.

"The confidence that they get in terms of placing and having somebody to race is a very positive thing," said Mounties' head coach Sarah Fellner. "I've got some excited swimmers who are happy with what they've done based on they're not rested, they're not tapered, it's not a focus for them, but they're still getting up and going fast and putting together their race rehearsals."

"There was some really good racing," said REDS' head coach Marta Belsh. "They attacked it really well, and with a little bit of rest now, we'll be ready for AUS."

In the team standings, UNB beat Mount Allison in both the women's and men's combined scores.

"We didn't slow down going into this," said MacLeod. "We're still in the midst of the bulk of our training, so we're all super sore and super tired, so it's prepared us to get up and race even if we are sore and tired, which is good as we head to the conference championships."

The AUS Championships take place February 10-12, at Memorial University.

RECAP AND PHOTOS BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics