Swimmers make a splash at AUS

By Samantha Smith

Memorial’s swimmers avoided any travel delays and competed in the 2009-10 Atlantic University Sport championship at UPEI where they set a number of provincial records, as both the men’s and women’s teams cracked the top three.

Men’s swimming

The men raced their way to a second-place finish behind the eventual champion Dalhousie team. On the weekend, the team saw a number of athletes race to personal bests.

On Friday, in the opening session, Adam Harvey set a personal best in the 200 metre freestyle with a time of 1:57.37, which was good enough for fourth place.

In the 100 metre breaststroke, three Sea-Hawks set personal best times: Ryan Allen and Richard Hibbs both cracked 1:10 with times of 1:09.57 and 1:09.79, placing them in fifth and sixth, while senior Tim Rusted, known for his distance events, set a personal best of 1:10.09. Brett Foster also set a lifetime best in the 100 metre butterfly with his ninth-place time of 1:01.40.

Teammate David Forbes was fifth in that event with a fast time of 57.90. The men’s relay team finished out the session with a blistering time in the 4X100m freestyle that put them in second-place.

The team of Harvey, Forbes, Rusted, and Hibbs broke a Newfoundland and Labrador provincial record with a time of 3:33.65, a record that has stood since 1984.

Harvey opened the relay by taking a second off his personal best time with a 53.05. On Saturday, there were a couple of highlights for the Memorial men. David Forbes was just out touched in both the 50 metre freestyle and 50 metre butterfly sprint events, finishing second and third respectively.

Adam Harvey continued to set new personal records, topping his previous best in the 100 metre backstroke for a 1:00.97 fifth-place finish while Richard Hibbs also set a best time by three seconds in the 200 metre breaststroke coming in at 2:31.35 in sixth-place.

On day two the relay team was again the story for the men with the 4X200 metre freestyle relay team of Harvey, Rusted, Hibbs, and Forbes becoming the first Newfoundland team to break the eight minute mark since 1984.

Their time of 7:58.25 was good enough to put them in second place. On Sunday, the Sea-Hawks closed out the meet with more personal bests. Harvey set another mark in the 100 metre free with 52.79 putting him in sixth, two spots behind Forbes who clocked in at 52.16. Hibbs set a personal best mark in two events.

He finished fourth in the 200 metre IM, shaving five seconds off his previous best, with a time of 2:14.75. He also set a new personal mark in the 50 metre breaststroke coming in sixth-place.

Overall, coach Brad Hutton was extremely pleased with the team’s performance coming in second place. David Forbes and Tim Rusted have qualified for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships at the University of Toronto from Feb. 18-20.

Women’s swimming

The Memorial women opened the AUS championships on Friday evening with fast times pushing them into the top three in the overall standings.

Leah Tomblin was the first Sea-Hawk on the podium with her third-place finish in the 50 metre backstroke with a time of 31.47 that set a new Memorial record.

Erin Daly set a new personal best in the 100 metre breaststroke with her time of 1:20.24 in the preliminary heat. She would eventually finish eleventh in the event. Like the men, the story on the opening night was the 4X100 metre freestyle relay team.

The Memorial team of Hogan, Tomblin, Rogers, and MacGillivray set a Newfoundland and Labrador record with a time of 4:02.92 to put them in second-place.

The previous record time was set in the same pool at last summer's Canada Games. Hogan set the pace with an opening leg personal record of 1:00.20. On Saturday, the personal achievements kept piling up, but it was Leah Tomblin who made the headlines with her gold medal finish in the 100 metre backstroke. Her time of 1:06.52 put her at the top of the podium.

Teammate Kelsie Rogers also had a great day, finishing third in the 50 metre freestyle and fifth in the 50 metre butterfly, breaking 30 seconds for the first time in her life and missing the podium by only .15 of a second.

It was also another provincial record-breaking day for a Memorial relay team. This time it was the team of Hogan, Tomblin, MacGillivray, and Rogers that set a new mark of 8:58.13 in the 4x200 metre freestyle relay. In the final day of the AUS, the Sea-Hawks had three personal best times and three podium finishes to end a successful meet.

Hogan finished third in the 100 metre freestyle setting a Memorial record with a time of 58.96 and missing CIS qualification by only .25 of a second. Tomblin found the podium again with a third place finish in the 200 metre backstroke.

Other highlights included personal bests by Monica MacGillivray in the 200 metre IM, fourth place, and Erin Daly in the 50 metre breaststroke, sixth-place. The relay team of Tomblin, Daly, Rogers, Hogan finished in second place in the 4x100 metre relay.

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