Axewomen and Axemen combine for second place finish

HALIFAX, N.S. – Hannah Doiron's gold medal performance in the 200m breaststroke led the way in Acadia's second place overall showing at the AUS Swimming Championships hosted by Dalhousie.

While the men's and women's teams finished third in their respective divisions, overall combined points put the Acadia swim team second overall among six participating schools.

Doiron, who was named the Acadia Athlete of the Week for her performance, missed out on qualifying for the CIS Championship at Laval in the 200m breaststroke by fractions of a second. Hannah won a silver in the 100m breaststroke.

Additional medals won on the women's team included three medals won by both Alison MacEachern and Rebecca MacPherson. MacEachern captured silver in the 100m butterfly and bronze in the 50m and 200m butterfly. MacPherson, who qualified earlier in the season for the CIS championship along with MacEachern captured silver in the 100m and 200m backstroke and added a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle.

The highlight of the meet for the Axewomen was a sweep of the 200m breaststroke by Acadia. Doiron's gold was followed by Kayla Boudreau's first individual medal win at an AUS championship. Boudreau, who graduates this season, took home the silver medal in the 200m breaststroke, while teammate Shania Wong finished the sweep with a bronze medal.

On the men's side, second year swimmer Adam Deutsch brought home three medals including a silver in the 200m breaststroke. Deutsch, named the Acadia male athlete of the week also captured bronze in the 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley.

Brendan Vibert added a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke while teammate Patrick Henger won bronze in the 50m butterfly.

In the relays, the Axewomen and Axemen fared well. In the women's 4 X100m Medley, the Axewomen picked up bronze. The Axemen captured bronze in the 4 X 100m freestyle relay and silver in the 4 X 200m freestyle.

First year head coach Gary MacDonald was proud of his team's performance. "I can feel pretty proud of my team and their amazing efforts this season and most recently a fantastic showing at the 2016 AUS Championship", commented MacDonald.

"It was a season of challenges and adversity with losing three of our top athletes in January. Despite this set back, the team pulled together and came away with some very impressive swimming", added MacDonald.

Alison MacEachern and Rebecca MacPherson will participate in the CIS Championship at the Universite de Laval from February 25 to February 27.