AAA/AA Long Course Metres Invitational Swim Meet Recap - Issue 31

Nine Highlander swimmers joined athletes from 15 clubs and university teams at the AAA/AA Long Course Metres Invitational this past weekend at Centennial Pool in Halifax. For many of our swimmers, this was their first experience competing in long course swimming, the international standard used at events like the Olympics, which is twice the length of our Spafford Pool.

 

Laura ’30 led the way on the girls’ side, swimming five events and earning five personal bests. She dropped nearly 13 seconds in the 400m freestyle, her highest-placing event, finishing 27th out of 68 swimmers (boys and girls combined across all ages). Emery ’28 and Lillian ’27 both competed in the Cadets Biathlon on the first day of the meet, each finishing on the podium, and returned to the pool on Sunday a bit battered, but still delivered strong performances. Emery cracked the top 10 in the 50m backstroke. Elaura ’32 dove headfirst into long course competition, swimming six events and giving her best effort in each.

 

Harvey ’27 had an excellent meet, earning two gold medals and one silver. He recorded personal bests in two of his three events, the 200m butterfly and 200m freestyle, and was just one-tenth of a second off his best in the 50m backstroke. Despite not having raced the 200m butterfly in nearly two years, his time now ranks him number one in the Atlantic provinces this season. Cole ’27 also had a strong meet, winning gold in the 100m freestyle (135 swimmers registered) and silver in the 50m freestyle, along with top 10 finishes in both the 50m butterfly and 100m breaststroke. Jude ’32 competed in a full slate of six events over two days, including three events he raced for the first time. He also achieved personal bests in both the 50m breaststroke and 100m freestyle.