Axemen lead after 1 session, while Axewomen trail first place Dalhousie

HALIFAX, N.S. - After the first session of the AUS swimming championship hosted by Dalhousie, the Axemen find themselves comfortably in front of the reigning champion Dalhousie Tigers, while the Axewomen sit in a close second to the Tigers.

Dalhousie swimmers found themselves atop of the podium in seven of the 12 events at the end of day one of the 2020 Subway AUS Swimming Championships presented by Keep it Social. Acadia won three events, while UNB swam to victory in two. 

AUS women's swimmer of the year Isabel Sarty (Dalhousie) won the first final of the meet taking the 200m freestyle in a time of 1:59.:51. Fellow Tiger Reagan Crowell was second, followed by Acadia's Kelsea Vessey in third. 

In the men's 200m freestyle event, the top three swimmers were separated by just four tenths of a second with Dalhousie's Tyler Immel-Herron coming out on top. He was followed by AUS men's swimmer of the year Noah Mascoll-Gomes (Mount Allison) in second and Acadia's Reilly Baker in third. 

UNB's Leah Small was the first swimmer to touch the wall to take the women's 50m breaststroke. She was followed by Dalhousie's Lise Cinq-Mars and Acadia's Jessica Pelletier. All three hit the U SPORTS qualifying time as did Dal's Martine Nyhof who placed fourth. 

Christian Payne won the men's event, posting a U SPORTS qualifying time of 25.32 for the Tigers. Acadia's Dean Sangster, who was named the AUS rookie swimmer of the year, and Benjamin Henger placed second and third respectively. 

Dalhousie's Abbey Corish swam to a first-place finish in the women's 100m breaststroke. AUS rookie swimmer of the year Polina Konstantinova was second for Memorial, followed by Dalhousie's Victoria MacDonald.  

Andre Walcott earned Acadia's first gold medal of the meet, taking the 100m breaststroke final. He was followed by fellow Axeman Brett Liem and UNB's Noah Horwood. 

Lise Cinq-Mars (DAL) and Kelsea Vessey (ACA) posted U SPORTS qualifying times in the women's 100m butterfly, finishing first and second respectively. Dalhousie's Veronica Hollick was close behind in third. 

UNB's Erik Staeben swam to victory in the men's 100m butterfly. Acadia's Shane Kenney and Dalhousie's Jacob Branchflower were second and third respectively. 

Tigers swimmer Reagan Crowell won the women's 400m IM with a U SPORTS qualifying time of 4:58.14. Acadia's Madison Murray and Cali Bruce touched in second and third place respectively. 

It was a battle between brothers in the men's 400m IM Acadia's Grier Kershaw won the event. His brother Calum Kershaw from Dalhousie was second, followed by Acadia's Elyott Chang in third. 

The Dalhousie women's 4x100m relay team of Isabel Sarty, Martine Nyhof, Lise Cinq-Mars and Reagan Crowell set a new AUS record in the event, clocking in at 3:47.52, bettering the time set at last year's championship by more than a second. Acadia was second in the event, followed by UNB in third. 

In the final event of the evening, the Acadia team of Reilly Baker, Dean Sangster, Gordon Shortt and Brett Liem won the men's 4x100m relay. They were followed by Dalhousie in second and Memorial in third. 

At the end of the first day of competition, the team standings are as follows:  

Women's  

Dalhousie - 318.5 
Acadia - 202 
University of New Brunswick - 168 
Memorial - 163 
Mount Allison – 77.5   

Men's  

Acadia - 337 
Dalhousie - 232  
Memorial - 142 
University of New Brunswick - 101  
Mount Allison - 60 

The action will get back underway tomorrow with heats starting at 10:00am, while the finals start at 6:00pm. You can catch all the action live online at www.AUStv.ca