UNB's Blake Kingston Smashes AUS Record—Twice—In Historic 100 Breast Swim
Kingston becomes the first AUS swimmer under 1:00 in the 100 breaststroke before lowering the conference mark again in the A Final at U SPORTS nationals
(MARKHAM, Ont.) Blake Kingston finished out of the medals in the men's 100-metre breaststroke at the U SPORTS Swimming Championships on Thursday, but he found a way into the history books… twice.
Kingston swam the A Final in the 100-breast in a time of 59.57 seconds, good for an eighth-place finish.
It was a new personal best and AUS record in the event, and it was the second personal best and AUS record of the day for Kingston.
In morning preliminaries, he swam the 100-breast in 59.78 seconds, becoming the first Atlantic University Sport man to break the one-minute mark in the event.
"Breaking one minute in the 100 was something I've been set on for years," said Kingston. "I couldn't be happier than to finally get it at my final university meet."
Other highlights for the REDS on day one of the national championship meet saw Max Kenny swim to third place in the C Final of the men's 50-metre backstroke.
Kenny and Camden Reid failed to advance to a final in the men's 100-metre butterfly. Reid was the faster of the two in prelims, touching the wall in 56.11 seconds. Kenny followed in 56.40 seconds.
Maria McDougall was 25th in prelims for the women's 100-metre breaststroke in 1:12.79.
Matthew de Goey was 49th in the 100-breast prelims in 1:06.31.
"It was an exciting way to start the U SPORTS Championships, getting into an A Final," said Kingston. "It's always tight in the event and I was glad to have gone out fast enough in the morning."
Kingston and several other REDS will be back in the pool on Friday for the second day of the three-day championship meet.
STORY BY: Andy Campbell/UNB REDS