Tigers lead after day 1 of UNB Invitational

(SAINT JOHN, NB) The Dalhousie Tigers ruled the first day of the UNB Invitational swim meet, at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, in Saint John. 

The meet is the fourth of the 2023-24 Atlantic University Sport swimming season and the last before the conference championships, in February. 

In the first of two sessions, Saturday afternoon, Tigers swimmers won eight of the 12 events. 

In the second session, Saturday evening, they won all 11. 

Dal's Reagan Crowell opened the meet and the day's first session with a win in the women's 50-metre freestyle, beating Acadia's Sophie Rooney and Grace Earle to the wall. 

Crowell later added a second victory, taking the women's 800-metre freestyle. 

Dal's Veronica Hollick captured the women's 50-metre butterfly. 

Acadia's Ella Collins swam to first place in the women's 50-metre breaststroke while her teammate Natalie Stokes won the 50-metre backstroke. 

Rooney took the women's 200-metre individual medley. 

Dalhousie's Noah Mascoll-Gomes won the men's 50-metre freestyle, beating teammate Logan Sparkes to the wall by almost half a second. 

Blake Kingston, of the host UNB REDS, won the men's 50-metre breaststroke, beating Dal's Keilen Bellis by 6/10ths of a second. UNB's Ethan Nestoruk was third, just 3/10ths back of Bellis. 

Dal's Cole Mitchell won the men's 50-metre backstroke while his Tigers teammates Liam Ferguson and Tim McCowan were first in the 50-metre butterfly and 200-metre individual medley respectively. 

Sparkes was first to the wall in the men's 800-metre freestyle. 

The Tigers began the evening session winning a mixed 8-by-50-metre freestyle relay. 

Dal's Ella Dobson then won the women's 200-metre butterfly before Tigers swept the top five positions in the men's 200-metre fly, led by race winner Isaac Bahler. 

Emilie Schofield took the women's 100-metre freestyle for Dal while Mascoll-Gomes won the men's 100 free. 

Dal's Kate Tuck beat Mount Allison's Jordan Thomas to the wall in the women's 200-metre breaststroke before Connor Maloney led a Tigers 1-2-3 in the men's event. 

Crowell and Mascoll-Gomes added victories to their days, winning the women's and men's 400-metre freestyles. 

Schofield won the women's 100-metre backstroke, beating Earle by just 11/100ths of a second. 

Ferguson added the 100-metre backstroke title to his day, the only swimmer in the 13-man field under the one-minute mark. 

The Tigers sit atop the women's standings, ahead of Acadia, Mount Allison, the Sea-Hawks and UNB. 

In the men's standings, Dal leads Acadia, the host REDS, the Mounties and Memorial. 

The meet's final session goes Sunday morning at 10:00am.