The opening day of the 2023-24 AUS Swimming Championships presented by Bell saw a new AUS record holder crowned and very few repeat medal winners. When the dust settled, it was the Dalhousie teams holding first place in both the men's and women's teams standings.
The evening session opened with a fast women's 200m free. Dalhousie's Reagan Crowell touched in first and qualified for U SPORTS with a time of 2:01.68. Coming in second was UNB's Jessie Collett and Dalhousie's Abbey Nichols touched in third. On the men's side, Dalhousie's Noah Mascoll-Gomes also qualified for U SPORTS with a first-place time of 1:50.18. Bo Stokesbury-Price of Acadia finished in second followed by Logan Sparkes of DAL.
All three medallists from the women's 100m breaststroke touched the wall under the U SPORTS qualifying time of 1:11.91. Ella Collins from Acadia narrowly missed out on setting a new AUS record, finishing in first place. Kate Tuck from Dalhousie touched in second followed by Jordan Thomas of Mount Allison.
UNB's Blake Kingston set a new AUS record in the men's 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:01.75. Gordon Shortt (Acadia) and Jake Gysel (Dalhousie) finished in second and third respectively.
In the women's 100m butterfly, Sara Bennett touched the wall in a time of 1:03.41 for a first place finish. Dalhousie's Amari DeLima-Baril finished second followed by Heidi Perry of Memorial.
Chris Weeks of Memorial won the men's 100m butterfly with a time of 54.84, under the U SPORTS qualifying time. Will Myrer of Dalhousie touched the wall in second place followed by Marcus Vaillancourt of Acadia.
Sophie Rooney (Acadia) took home first place in the women's 50m backstroke followed by fellow Axewoman Grace Earle in second and Mount Allison's Makayla Churchill in third.
The Tigers took first and third in the men's 50m backstroke with Liam Ferguson finishing first and Logan Sparkes earning his second bronze medal of the night. Sebastian Cariaga of Mount Allison finished in second.
It was a Dalhousie sweep of the women's 400m IM. Emilie Schofield touched in first, under the U SPORTS qualifying time, followed by Tuck and Ella Dobson.
Acadia's Nate Thompson took home the gold medal in the men's 400m IM race. Tigers Yannick Morgans and Morgan Sparkes took home second and third respectively.
The Dalhousie team of Crowell, Tuck, Elaine Gentleman and Schofield won the 400m freestyle relay followed by an Acadia team staffed by Rooney, Emma Hamlyn, Bennett and Earle in second and UNB's Elodie Martin, Sophie Casey, Emma Sinclair and Jessie Collett in third.
The Tigers also took home gold in the men's 400m freestyle relay with Mascoll-Gomes leading off, Logan Sparkes, Noah Thomas and Cole Mitchell rounding out the team. Memorial's team of Thomas Chafe, Weeks, Liam Tweedie and Daniel Pearce finished second followed by Acadia's Stokesbury-Price, David Harvie, Nate Thompson and Gordon Shortt.
At the end of the first day of competition the team standings are as follows:
Women
Dalhousie – 303.5 points
Acadia – 245
Memorial – 141
UNB – 135
Mount Allison – 114.50
Men
Dalhousie – 344.5 points
Acadia – 229.5
Memorial – 125
UNB – 125
Mount Allison - 103
Day two gets under way with preliminary races starting at 10am followed by finals at 6 p.m. Catch all the action on AUStv!