Tigers leading after Day 1 of AUS Championships

Written by Olivia Ryan, Memorial Athletics

At the end of day one of the 2023 Subway AUS Swimming Championships, Acadia finished at the top of the podium in 9 events. Dalhousie won four events, while UNB swam to victory in one.

In the first final event of the meet, Jennifer Moore from the UNB REDS won the women's 50m freestyle in a time of 0:26.64. Veronica Hollick (Mississauga, ON) of the DAL Tigers and Elisabeth Morrison of Acadia tied for second in the tight race.

On the men's side for the 50m freestyle event, Noah Mascoll-Gomes (St. John's, Antigua) took the top spot for Dalhousie with a U-SPORTS-qualifying time of 0:22.88. Dean Sangster and Kenny Shane, both representing Acadia, placed second and third, respectively.

In the women's 100m backstroke event, Sophie Rooney from Acadia had a commanding win with a time of 1:01.93, beating her previous U-SPORTS qualifying time in the prelims. Grace Earle from Acadia took the second spot and Emilie Schofield (Miramichi, NB) from Dalhousie snagged third.

Acadia's Dean Sangster took the men's 100m backstroke final in a time of 0:55.74, while his teammate Aaron Day got silver. Liam Ferguson (Upper Tantallon, NS) from Dalhousie got bronze.

The next event was the women's 50m breaststroke finals, in which Elisabeth Morrison of Acadia won in a time of 0:33.05. Jordan Thomas of Mount Allison got second, while Kate Tuck (Sunderland, ON) of the Dalhousie Tigers took third in this tight race. Both Morrison and Tuck achieved U-SPORTS-qualifying times.

In the men's 50m breaststroke finals, Gordon Shortt of Acadia topped the podium with a U-SPORTS qualifying time of 0:28.53. Ethan Nestoruk of UNB placed second, and Adam Deutsch, also from Acadia, placed third.

For the women's 400m freestyle finals, Dalhousie Tigers swept the podium, with Reagan Crowell (Lakeville, NB) dominating the race and swimming well under the U-SPORTS qualifying time in 4:16.57. Fellows Tigers Sophie Idle (Calgary, AB) and Abbey Nichols (Brockville, ON) finished second and third, respectively.

Mascoll-Gomes of Dalhousie won the men's 400m freestyle in a time of 4:00.55. Not far behind was teammate Logan Sparkes (Agassiz, BC), while Memorial's Matty Whelan got Memorial's first podium finish in third.

Kassidy Hamilton won the women's 100m butterfly for Acadia in a time of 1:03.32. It was a very tight race in the end, but it was Hannah Casey of the UNB REDS who took second and Hollick of Dalhousie who got third.

On the men's side in the 100m butterfly, it was Shane Kenny of Acadia who topped the podium in a U-SPORTS qualifying time of 0:54.87. Frederick Chandler-Baas (Ottawa, ON) of Dalhousie took second place, while Axemen Marcus Vaillancourt finished third.

Dalhousie's Allison McCloy (Calgary, AB) won the women's 200m Individual Medley in a time of 2:17.41. Sophie Rooney (Acadia) and Kate Tuck (Dalhousie), finished second and third, respectively. Both McCloy and Rooney met U-SPORTS qualifying standards.

Gordon Shortt of Acadia won the men's 200m Individual Medley with a U-SPORTS qualifying time of 2:01.71. Matthew Whelan of Memorial placed second in the event and Adam Deutsch of Acadia took the third spot.

The final events of the day were the 400m Medley relays. Acadia Axewomen's relay team of Sophie Rooney, Elisabeth Morrison, Kassidy Hamilton and Grace Earle took first place in a time of 4:19.03. The Dalhousie team of Schofield, Abbey Corish (Summerside PE), McCloy and Crowell were second, followed by Memorial's team of Kate Williams, Marcy Whelan, Heidi Perry and Kathryn Stokes.

In the men's 400m Medley relay to end out the day, it was the Acadia Axemen's relay team who won the race. Their team consisted of Dean Sangster, Gordon Shortt, Shane Kenny and Bo Stokesbury-Price. Dalhousie's team of Ferguson, Tim McCowan (Toronto, ON), Chandler-Baas and Mascoll-Gomes finished second while Memorial's team of Dylan Morawski, Matthew Whelan, Reilly Swain and Thomas Chafe finished in third.

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

Women's

Dalhousie - 352.5
Acadia - 282.5
Memorial - 218
UNB - 158
Mount Allison - 83

Men's

Dalhousie - 351.5
Acadia - 343.5
Memorial - 181
UNB - 118
Mount Allison - 69

The action will begin again tomorrow with preliminaries at 10:00am and finals starting at 6:00pm. All events will be livestreamed and can be viewed on AUStv.