Zoee LeBlanc Wins Gold at Subway AUS Champs, Berger and Loewen qualify for CIS Nationals

(HALIFAX, N.S.) -  On final day of the 2016 Subway AUS Swim Championships, Mounties senior Zoee Leblanc got Mount Allison's its first gold medal of the meet, winning the 50m breaststroke. UNB's Lauren Adam and MtA's Laurel White second and third respectively. It was a very tight race with Leblanc narrowly nosing Adam out by seven tenths of a second.  The gold medal is the first individual gold medal of Leblanc's AUS swim career.

Mounties Geraint Berger and Allison Loewen had already qualified for CIS Nationals earlier during the meet.  For Loewen, this will be her 2nd trip to CIS Nationals while for Berger it will be his first appearance.  The pair of Mounties will travel with Coach John Peters to Laval for the 2016 CIS Championships from February 26th-28th.

AUS swimmer of the year Phoebe Lenderyou won her first night of the evening, setting a new AUS record in the 200m backstroke event. The Dalhousie Tiger broke her own record of 2:11.05 (set at the Kemp-Fry Invitational in November) by nearly three seconds. Acadia's Rebecca MacPherson was second, followed by Dal's Rachel Shin in third. All three posted CIS-qualifying times in the event.

UNB got their first gold of the night from Charli LeBlanc in the 100m backstroke. She was followed by AUS rookie of the year Lise Cinq-Mars (Dalhousie) in second and Acadia's Rebecca MacPherson in third. All three posted CIS-qualifying times in the race.

Lenderyou got her second gold of the night, setting another AUS record in the 200m IM. She broke the record she set at last year's championship by nearly a second, touching in at 2:14.84. The Tigers swept the podium with Annie Douglas and Sarah Wood finishing in second and third, respectively.

The Tigers won the final relay of the weekend, completing the relay sweep, breaking the record the Tigers set at last year's championship. The team of Lenderyou, Webster, Cinq-Mars and Lucy MacLeod clocked in with a CIS-qualifying time of 4:11.64. UNB was second in the event, followed by Acadia.

Dalhousie's Tony Liew got things started for the men, setting a CIS-qualifying time of 28.64 in the 50m breaststroke. Acadia's Brendan Vibert was second, followed by the Tigers Kennan Teghtsoonian in third.

AUS rookie of the year Morrgan Payne (Dalhousie) set the pace in the 200m backstroke, winning in a time of 2:01.96. Fellow Tiger Peter Inches was second, with Memorial's David Haines finishing in third. Both Payne and Inches swam CIS-qualifying times.

Gavin Dyke, the AUS swimmer of the year won his first gold of the night in the 100m freestyle event, setting a new AUS record in the process. He beat the record he set in November by .19 seconds. Memorial's Sam Leawood came second in the race, followed by Geraint Berger from Mount Allison.

Dalhousie's Tyler Herron won his first event of the night, winning the 200m IM. Fellow Tiger James Profit was close behind, narrowly out-touching Acadia's Adam Deutsch.

Kyle Watson led a Tigers podium sweep in the 1500m freestyle, clocking in a CIS-qualifying time of 5:42.96. Jeremy Ryant was in second, followed by Jackson Sinclair.

Dalhousie completed its relay sweep of the weekend, winning the 4 x 100m relay. Payne, Liew, Tyler Herron and Dyke narrowly missed setting a new AUS record, clocking in a CIS-qualifying time of 3:43.47. Mount Allison placed in second, followed be Memorial in third.

Dalhousie swept the meet awards, claiming both rookie and swimmer of the year titles.

Lise Cinq-Mars was named the AUS female rookie of the meet after claiming gold in the 50m butterfly, and silver in the 200m butterfly, 100m and 200m freestyle events this weekend. Morrgan Payne was named the AUS male rookie of the meet after sweeping all three backstroke events. Both Cinq-Mars and Payne were named the AUS rookies of the year at the championship luncheon on Friday.

Phoebe Lenderyou was named the AUS female swimmer of the meet after claiming gold in the 100m butterfly, 100m and 200m backstroke, and the 200m IM events this weekend. She also set three AUS records in individual events over the weekend. The AUS male swimmer of the meet went to Gavin Dyke after sweeping all three freestyle events and the 100m butterfly. He set two new AUS records over the weekend. Both Lenderyou and Dyke were named the AUS swimmers of the year during Friday's championship luncheon.

At the end of the third and final day of competition, the team standings are as follows:

Women's
Dalhousie - 435
University of New Brunswick - 187
Acadia - 173
Mount Allison - 129
University of Prince Edward Island - 47 

Men's
Dalhousie - 460
Memorial - 170
Acadia - 129
Mount Allison - 107
University of New Brunswick - 85
University of Prince Edward Island - 20 

All CIS qualifiers will head to the CIS championship at the l'Université de Laval Feb. 26-28, 2016.