All the kids means it’s a crowded pool for Sea-hawks
Memorial opens up AUS season with a 17-member travelling group ... and that's less than half the team
Memorial University athletes will begin the regular-season schedule in a third varsity sport as 17 Sea-hawks swimmers take part in the Jack Scholz Invitational meet at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., this weekend.
Such schedule-openers are often deemed to be longawaited, but perhaps never so much as this fall — it’s the first Atlantic University Sport (AUS) swimming competition in more than a year-andhalf; the 2020-21 AUS season was completely cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
That hiatus has led to larger-than-normal-rosters for many AUS teams as athletes who would normally have used up all their varsity eligibility in 2020-21 return for another year, and two classes of rookies — those from this year and those who began university in the fall of 2020, but who never competed — are welcomed.
But while the Sea-hawks’ roster is indeed bursting with athletes — the 17 swimmers at Acadia represent fewer than half the overall number on the team — Memorial co-coach Duffy Earle says there’s more to that expansiveness than the eligibility amendments associated with COVID. For example, of the 37 total Memorial swimmers, none were in line to graduate earlier this spring, meaning there are no veterans who have returned for that extra year.
But there are plenty of rookies; no less than 19 Seahawks swimmers qualify as first-years for varsity purposes. It’s also noteworthy that every one of those 19 is from Newfoundland.
“For one thing, I think that speaks to how well we have been developing swimmers in this province,” said Earle, “and for another, our ability to retain them, to recruit them (to Memorial).
“Chris (co-coach Chris Roberts) and I have been with the program for seven years and we are at the point where I think swimmers from the province really realize the quality of the program and what they can achieve right here.”
That “achieve right here” phrase takes on extra significance this year since the 2021-22 AUS swimming championships are being held in February at the Aquarena in St. John’s, the first time Memorial has hosted the conference finals in a decade.
But the season starts on the road, with a team that’s young but that’s expected to contend in Wolfville.
“We have a lot of swimmers, but also a lot of talent,” said Earle. “Many of them are ranked near the top entering this competition this weekend.”
The depth on the Seahawks is demonstrated that neither Polina Konstantinova, the 2019-20 AUS swimming rookie of the year, nor Ruben Rivero, who Roberts calls one of the top backstrokers in the conference, travelled to Nova Scotia for the Acadia meet, which
concludes Sunday.
On a story on the AUS website, Roberts said he expects rookie Kate Williams of St. John’s to challenge for medals in multiple disciplines and also mentioned Aliceyn Warren of Mount Pearl — one of the 2020 rookies — and Heidi Perry of Corner Brook, a returnee from the 2019 squad, as two to watch in the female competition.
On the men’s side, Roberts highlighted two St. John’s swimmers: true freshman Matthew Whelan, as well as first-year Cormac Bull, whom he described as “a force to be reckoned with.”
The Sea-hawks won’t travel to Fredericton, N.B., later this month for another conference meet, but will get to an AUS event at Dalhousie University in Halifax, where Earle said it’s expected Memorial will bring a larger team. In between, Sea-hawks swimmers will take part in local competitions, including an invitational meet in Mount Pearl later this fall.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
As the Memorial swimmers begin their competition in Nova Scotia, another Seahawks varsity team will be returning from that province to St. John’s.
The Memorial men’s basketball team played three exhibition games this week, defeating the Dal Tigers 85-78 Wednesday in Halifax before falling 98-71 to St, FX in Antigonish, N.S., Thursday. The Sea-hawks hoopsters returned to Halifax to take on the Saint Mary’s Huskies Friday night. The result of that latter game was unavailable at deadline.
Against Dal, Memorial was led by conference allstars Cole Long and Nathan Barker, each with 23 points. The following night, Nicholas Tuff (25) and Flynn Boardman-raffett were the top scorers for a Sea-hawks team that saw a 48-38 halftime lead get washed away in the third quarter, when the X-men outscored the visitors 35-7.
These are the lone exhibition games for the Memorial team, which opens up its 2021-22 regular season (along with the Sea-hawks women) on Oct. 30 in Charlottetown against the UPEI Panthers.
The two Sea-hawks soccer teams don’t play for a second straight weekend. They are back in action on Oct. 22 when they face UPEI on the road.
The Memorial crosscountry team's first competition was earlier this month at Acadia.