Acadia athletes competitive at CIS swim championships

Top-10 finishes were hard to come by for Acadia swimmers at the CIS championships Feb. 19-21 in Victoria, B.C., but the eight Acadia swimmers that attended the national meet were competitive.

Luc Boudreau, competing in his fifth straight CIS championship, had three second swims. In his specialty, the 200 breaststroke, he was fifth in the preliminaries, qualifying for the A final, where he finished seventh overall.

Boudreau was 15th in the preliminaries of the 50 breaststroke, and advanced to the B final, where he finished 16th. In the 100 breast, he was 16th in the preliminaries, again qualifying for the B final, where he finished 13th.

Boudreau also competed in the 50 freestyle, where he finished 39th overall.

The other two male Acadia qualifiers were Hayden Adams and Justin LeBlanc. Adams was 19th in the 200 backstroke, 20th in the 400 IM, 22nd in 100 backstroke and 28th in 50 backstroke. LeBlanc was 21st in the 50 breaststroke, 32nd in 100 breaststroke, 46th in 50 freestyle and 49th in 100 freestyle.

On the women’s side, Rebecca MacPherson was eighth in the preliminaries of the 200-metre backstroke, advancing to the A final, where she finished seventh. MacPherson was also 22nd in 100 freestyle, 23rd in 100 backstroke and 25th in 200 freestyle.

Laura Beck, like MacPherson a firstyear student-athlete, was 15th in 50 backstroke, advancing to the B final, where she finished 16th. Beck narrowly missed a second swim in the 100 backstroke, ending up 17th overall. She was also 32nd in the 50 breaststroke and 41st in 50 freestyle.

Emily Halajian, another first-year Acadia swimmer, was 15th in the 200 butterfly, advancing to the B final, where she finished 11th. Halajian was also 26th in 50 butterfly, 33rd in 100 butterfly and 44th in 200 IM.

Elizabeth Skuriat, the veteran of the women’s contingent in her fourth year, competed in the 400 freestyle, finishing 27th overall, and the 800 freestyle, finishing 31st overall.

Because MacPherson, Beck, Halajian and Skuriat had all qualified for the CIS meet, Acadia was eligible to compete in all the relays. The four women placed 14th in the 400-metre medley relay, 14th in the 400-metre freestyle relay and 15th in the 400-metre freestyle relay.

Patrick Henger joined Boudreau, Adams and LeBlanc, who had all qualified for nationals, to allow Acadia to compete in the men’s relays. Henger, who had not qualified individually, competed only in the relays. The four Acadia men were 12th in the 800-metre freestyle relay, 13th in the 400-metre freestyle relay, and 13th in the 400-metre medley relay.