Rebecca MacPherson, Swimming

Born and raised in Canning, Nova Scotia, homegrown Axewomen swimmer Rebecca McPherson arrived on the AUS Swimming scene and made her presence felt immediately. Prior to Acadia, the 5’10, 150 lbs. 18-year-old swam with the Wolfville Tritons Swim Club under coach Chris Stone. MacPherson was also a member of the 2013 Canada Games team under coach Brian Beckwith. Attending Horton High School in Greenwich from 2010-2014, MacPherson decided to stay close to home and study Engineering at Acadia after her high school graduation.

MacPherson trained with the Axemen and Axewomen swim teams during her Grade 10, 11, and 12 years at Horton, and got to know many of her current teammates before even stepping foot on campus as a student. MacPherson says she, “Liked the idea of being part of a team that was so close.” She also added, “I’ve always loved the idea of coming to Acadia [after] growing up in the Valley, but what initially attracted me was the small town family environment.” 

In MacPherson’s first AUS Championship swim meet on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8, MacPherson turned heads by taking home four gold medals over the weekend. She was able to claim the victory in 100m and 200m freestyle events, as well as both the 100m and 200m backstroke. Her astounding performance earned MacPherson 2015 Subway AUS Championship Female Swimmer of the Meet honours. MacPherson helped the Axewomen to a second place finish in the meet, only coming in behind always-dominant Dalhousie.

A birth in the CIS Championship swim meet was the result of MacPherson’s AUS Swimmer of the Meet performance, and reaching the CIS meet was what MacPherson set out to do all season. “Qualifying for CIS was one of my goals this year and it felt great to be able to accomplish it,” she said. MacPherson also added that Acadia’s team performance at the AUS meet was their best since the programs re-inception six years ago. “It was awesome to share the experience with some of my teammates,” she said.  

After year one with the Axewomen, MacPherson said that, “So far my university career has been great. I couldn’t have asked for much better. I think I’m really lucky to have an enthusiastic team that works so hard.” The humble MacPherson was not slow to give an abundance of credit to her team of “incredibly supportive” coaches, Dave Fry, Sherri Deutsch, Peter Porskamp and Phillip Hadley. MacPherson gave special credit to Fry, adding “He’s an amazing coach and has been so good to all of us and has really helped build the team even more this year.”

In preparation for next season, MacPherson will maintain her normal training regiment as she and teammates prepare for other upcoming meets. Along with some fellow teammates, MacPherson will head to Toronto in early April to compete in the World Trials. Though the season has ended, MacPherson will continue to swim well into the summer, before having time to rest and recover before Acadia swimming will begin again in September.

“Being apart of a team that has had so much success this year was amazing but what made it even better was sharing it with people that I’ve become really close with,” said MacPherson. Both Axemen and Axewomen swimming is certainly on the rise, having the 2014/15 season being their best AUS swim meet finish since the programs re-inception. Led by Annapolis Valley native Rebecca MacPherson, the program is set to head nowhere but up over her time at Acadia. “I think that being from the area made my university career so far so much more exciting,” added MacPherson.

Provided by Cameron Davidson