Acadia finishes second at Amby Legere Invitational

FREDERICTON - The Dalhousie Tigers took the women's, men's, and combined team titles at the 2023 Amby Legere Invitational at UNB's Sir Max Aitken Pool. 

A major highlight for the Axewomen, who finished second overall in the women's team standings, was Ella Collins setting a team record on Saturday in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:11.78 to win the race with a U SPORTS qualifying time. The previous Acadia record was held by Hannah Doiron with a time of 1:13.34 set in 2016-17.

Acadia as a whole finished second in all three team standings at the second meet of the 2023-24 Atlantic University Sport swimming season. The first event was held at the Acadia Pool, the Jack Scholz Invitational.

Tigers swimmers dominated Sunday's session, winning 10 of the day's 17 races, but it was Acadia scoring the victory in the first event of the day. Sara Bennett out-raced two Tigers to win the women's 200-metre butterfly. 

Isaac Bahler led a Tigers sweep of the top three spots in the men's 200-metre fly. 

Acadia's Sophie Rooney won the women's 50-metre backstroke while Dal's Noah Mascoll-Gomes won the men's 50-back. 

Veteran Tiger Reagan Crowell led a Dal sweep in the women's 400-metre freestyle, beating teammate Ella Dobson by almost six seconds. 

"I feel like we try to set an example for the younger kids," said Crowell. "Especially coming into meets, not to throw away these opportunities, chances to always give your all." 

While swimming for a visiting school, Crowell has always felt at home in the UNB pool. She hails from Lakeville, not far from Fredericton. 

"It's nice to look up in the stands and see all the support." 

Dal's Logan Sparkes won the men's 400 free. 

Rooney then logged another win for Acadia, taking first in the women's 100-metre individual medley. 

Not to be out-done, the Acadia men swept the top three spots in the men's 100 IM, led by Gordon Shortt, who beat teammate Nate Thompson by half a second. 

"That's something I'll remember forever," said Shortt. "This is my last year, so I really will remember that 1-2-3 forever." 

Shortt also won the men's 200 individual medley, coming from behind to beat Dal's Liam Ferguson. 

"I know I've got a decent backstroke, so I can reel in most guys, and I enjoy doing that," said Shortt. 

Ferguson would rebound a short time later to win the men's 100-metre backstroke. 

UNB's Maxime Kenny finished second. 

"It's certainly a surprise," said Kenny. "I knew my backstroke could be among the final eight, but final three was really out of the blue. I had no expectation for that, for sure." 

"My big problem with backstroke is my last hundred metres and getting back up to pace at the end," added Kenny. "This time I tried to keep everything on the same energy level and that helped." 

Kenny's UNB teammate Eric Jean finished fourth, just 25/100ths of a second out of third. 

In the women's 200-metre breaststroke, Acadia's Ella Collins outraced two Tigers to the wall, while Connor Maloney won the men's 200 breast for Dal. 

Emma Sinclair was the only UNB swimmer to score a win in the REDS home meet, taking first place in the women's 50-metre butterfly. 

"I've been training really hard, and I was feeling really good this weekend and I know this pool really well. This is the pool I learned to swim in," said Sinclair. 

She beat Dal's Kate Tuck by 8/100ths of a second in a race that saw the top six finishers touch the wall within 8/10ths of a second. 

"I fed off the energy of the team, which was really electric this weekend," added Sinclair. "It was great." 

Mascoll-Gomes scored his second win of the day in the men's 50 fly, beating teammate Sparkes by 2/10ths of a second. Jean was less than 9/10ths of a second off the winner's pace in finishing third for UNB. 

Dal's Emma Carrier Clarke won the women's 200-metre individual medley, while the Tigers took first in the mixed 4-by-100-metre medley relay. 

Acadia finished second in the combined team, women's, and men's standings. 

UNB was third in the men's and team standings and fourth in the women's competition. 

Mount Allison finished fourth in the team and men's competitions, but swam third in the women's overall standings. 

The next meet on the AUS swimming schedule is Dal's Kemp-Fry Invitational, November 24-26, in Halifax.