The 2021-2022 academic year marks a first for Acadia Swimming recruiting in the form of three sibling pairs. Three of this season’s new rookies have joined an older veteran sibling on the team. Annie Ingo of Sydenham, Ontario joins brother Cameron Ingo, Kali Lancaster of Victoria, B.C. joins sister Lia Lancaster, and Marcus Vaillancourt of Saint John, New Brunswick joins sister Gina Vaillancourt. While Annie, like her brother Cameron, will add to the depth of distance freestyle in the program, the team’s other sibling duos swim different events from one another. Marcus brings to the table a specialization in the 100 and 200 metre butterfly, Gina excels in the backstrokes and dabbles in the distance freestyles, Kali specializes in all three breaststroke distances, and Lia swims sprint butterfly and freestyle.
Second year Cameron is looking forward to his first “normal” swim season experience: “It’s nice to have a familiar face on the team from home, and I’m super excited to see what my little sister can accomplish at Acadia. I’m also excited in general for my first real year of competing at Acadia since we have such a great team, and I think it’s going to be a fun year.”
Annie, meanwhile, is happy to be back in the pool on a more regular basis: “I’m really looking forward to this season and seeing what everyone can do. It’s been a rough few years with the pandemic so it’s great to be back in the pool!”
Third year Gina is thrilled to be sharing the Acadia experience with her brother, and looks forward to watching him compete: “I’m so excited to be training with my brother again. We are always pushing each other in practice and at meets. I’m really looking forward to seeing him improve and swim some personal bests this year. I think this will be a great season for the entire team!”
Fourth year Lia, who is one of the women’s team captains, is thrilled to be sharing her final year with her sister: “Getting to train and go to university with my best friend and little sister is such a special opportunity that just makes my desire for the team to continue growing and gaining recognition after I graduate even stronger.”
Kali is equally as excited to begin her Acadia swimming journey, and to share her first year with her sister’s last: “I am very excited for my first season at Acadia to begin, and to be part of such an amazing team! I feel so lucky to be able to train and race alongside my role model and big sister.”
The Acadia swim team competed this past weekend at their season home opener, and is now gearing up for the Amby Legère meet at the University of New Brunswick On October 30th and 31st.
