The Canadian U-Sports Swimming Championships, scheduled for March 24th-26th at Université Laval in Quebec City, are just around the corner. Acadia Swimming has five qualified athletes who will each compete in four individual events across the competition, as well as a men’s relay team which will compete in three relay events. Read on for a preview of the competition and the qualified athletes.
Grace Earle
Events: Day 1 – 200 free, 50 back Day 2 – 100 back, 50 free Day 3 – 200 back, 100 free (will race 4 total)
Grace qualified for her first U-Sports Championship in her first year at Acadia. A freestyle and backstroke specialist, Grace is studying kinesiology and her biggest goal at U-Sports is to qualify for the final in the 200 back.
Shane Kenny
Events: Day 1 – 50 back, 100 fly Day 2 – 50 fly, 50 free
Shane had a fantastic start to the 2021-2022 season, setting the AUS record in the 50 fly in November with a 23.99. He also holds the Acadia 100 fly record. Shane is in his third year studying business at Acadia and will focus on sprint races across three strokes at U-Sports.
Jessica Pelletier
Events: Day 1 – 50 back Day 2 – 100 back, 50 free Day 3 – 100 free
Jess is the current Acadia 50 and 100 back record holder, and will race her backstroke events at U-Sports in addition to the 50 and 100 freestyle. Jess is in her final year at Acadia studying sociology, with a minor in comparative religion. Jess is eyeing the 50 back in particular at U-Sports, and her goal is to get as close to her best time of 29.06 as possible, and to qualify for the final in the event.
Dean Sangster
Events: Day 1 – 50 back Day 2 – 100 back, 50 fly, 50 free
A backstroke specialist, Dean holds all three Acadia backstroke records in addition to the 200 free record he set earlier this season in November. Studying business, Dean is in his third year at Acadia, and hopes to set the AUS record in the 50 free as well as bettering his own Acadia records in the 50 and 100 back.
Gordon Shortt
Events: Day 1 – 100 breast Day 2 – 50 fly, 50 free Day 3 – 50 breast
Third-year business student Gordon is a jack-of-all-trades on the men’s team, and will race the breastroke, butterfly, and freestyle 50s, as well as the 100 breaststroke, at U-Sports. Gordon is the current Acadia record holder in the 50 breast, 200 I.M., and 400 I.M., and his biggest goal at U-Sports is to better his times in the 50 and 100 breaststroke.
Axemen Relay
Athletes: Bo Stokesbury-Price, Dean Sangster, Gordon Shortt, Shane Kenny
Events: Men’s 400 medley relay, men’s 800 freestyle relay, men’s 400 freestyle relay
The Axemen’s qualified relay will compete in the three relay events across the three days of competition. The 400 freestyle relay on day one, the 800 freestyle relay on day two, and the 400 medley relay on day three.
Good luck to Head Coach Kris Bell and to Acadia Swimming!
AMAZING writing. Makes swimming way more interesting