Thursday, February 23, 2012

CIS Championships

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to drop a quick post on here about the CIS swim championships.
Competition is underway in Montreal, with day 1 already complete!

We have 5 athletes at CIS... Danielle Losier (3 time qualifier), Kaitlyn Young, Juliana Vantellingen, Cuba Garcelon and Jessica Leblanc (to top off our women's relay). The Brunswickan did a little article about the squad, here's the link!
http://thebruns.ca/articles/51697

I encourage you to check out the live results to see how the VReds are faring against the rest of the country! Live results can be found here http://resultats.carabins.umontreal.ca/index_us.html

Also, for your viewing pleasure, there is live video feed! http://www.ssncanada.ca/game/3975/


So, good luck to our swimmers at CIS!!! We're behind you 100%! While these swimmers are at the swim meet, the rest of the team has their eyes glued to our laptop screens waiting on results and catching live feed!

That's all for now, have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Natalie


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

More AUS photos

Graduating swimmers- after our last races! Melissa, Colin, Vero and I. Missing Jen from the photo!
Men's relay team getting their silver medals

Success at AUS


Hi all,

Brace yourselves, this will be a long one.

Well, our AUS championship swim meet ended late Sunday night and I've been incredibly busy catching up on school work! Big swim meets truly drain every ounce of energy and its always a challenge to stay on top of school work when competing is on the mind!

With 28 athletes swimming in 4 events, plus relays, it is impossible to highlight everyone's successes! To keep it somewhat short, I'll give you my version of TSN Top 10 performances of the weekend...

10) Scotty Mills breaking 28 seconds for 50m backstroke

9) Cuba's consolation final win in the 100m breaststroke that unofficially placed him on the podium

8) Jess Leblanc getting a chance to travel to CIS as a relay team member

7) Danielle Losier going 1:04.59 for 100m backstroke, shattering CIS standard

6) Monica MacDonald making the podium for 50m breaststroke

5) Women's team grabbing shiny silver for all 3 relays

4) Men's relay team 2nd place finish in a tight race Sunday night

3) Cuba winning GOLD in 50m breaststroke and the only guy under the 30 second mark!

2) Kait Young qualifying for CIS in the 100m butterfly. Getting it over with on the first night!

1) Juliana V. qualifying for CIS in the 800m free with 3 seconds to spare!

All results are still available for your viewing pleasure online at http://www.swimnovascotia.com/online/index.htm

Each and every member of the team had races that they can be proud of. The beauty of swimming is that we will never perfect our races; no matter how great the race may have been, we can always pick things out to improve. Congratulations to all my teammates on an amazing championship meet!!!
Women's team placed 2nd overall, Men's team placed 5th and UNB placed 2nd overall in the 6-team conference.

A big thank you goes out to all of our amazing families and friends who supported us leading up to/at the AUS swim meet. Looking up at the stands at the Dalplex and seeing that UNB parents and friends EASILY outnumber Dal fans at their own pool= phenomenal feeling!
Additional shout-outs: Trevor the trainer (we hated all the chin-ups at the time but loved the results!), Ryan Hamilton (offered us great sport psychology advice and strategies), assistant coach Stefan Mader (cannot thank you enough for all the coaching and motivating) and athletic director John Richard for supporting us all weekend!

Although I am personally entering retirement life as I have now finished my final season as a student athlete, I will still keep you informed over the next couple weeks as 5 swimmers prepare for CIS Championships at U de Montreal! Cuba (Chris Garcelon), Danielle Losier, Kaitlyn Young, Juliana Vantellingen and Jessica Leblanc will be representing UNB at nationals next weekend.

Thanks for reading!
Have a fantastic week everyone and be sure to check out the UNB bball and vball games this weekend at the Currie Center!

Natalie

Friday, February 10, 2012

AUS Swim Meet: Day 1


Hi everyone!

We arrived in Halifax yesterday for our AUS conference championship swim meet. Yesterday, we got a chance to swim at Dalplex to "work out the kinks" from the bus ride, and Colin Sonnichsen's parents hosted us for a team dinner. We are so fortunate to get spoiled by our amazing network of swim parents who cook and bake for us, as well as fill the stands at Dal!

We had an AUS luncheon today on the Dalhousie campus, complete with a buffet and some presentations. The graduates received a gift from the host team and I'd like to make a major shout-out to all the amazing teammates graduating with me this year! We did it! Also, congrats to Kaitlyn Young for receiving a prestigious AUS award recognizing her athletic, academic and volunteer achievements. Way to represent UNB!

This morning was our first session of racing, and I'm excited to report that we're off to an excellent start! I'm so proud of the team's performances already, but it would take pages to tell you about everyone's races. To make it easier, I have attached the link to LIVE results below.

http://www.swimnovascotia.com/online/index.htm

Tonight we have UNB swimmers in almost every final or consolation final, as well as Men's and Women's 400m Freestyle relay. The evening finals sessions are bound to be exciting and energetic, so if you happen to be in Halifax this weekend- come cheer on your VReds!!

Now to rest (and study) at the hotel. Stay tuned for updates and keep refreshing those live results!

Make it a wonderful weekend!

Natalie


Saturday, February 4, 2012

Preparation

Hi everyone,

Its been a while since I posted so I figured I should update you on how the swim team is doing with preparing for AUS and CIS Championships!

With our conference championships 6 days away, our taper is starting to take effect. Everyone is getting extra rest and its really starting to show in practice! This time of the season is exciting because we're all chipping away at our times and the anticipation is building for the swim meet. Its critical at this time that the athletes get sufficient sleep, eat healthy and rest. On the academic side of things, midterm season has begun, and finding the balance between studying and resting is something we must perfect.

On a different topic... a shoutout to the swimmers who have been involved in Reading with the REDS this semester- well done! Its great seeing my teammates volunteering and getting involved in the community!

Make sure to "like" UNB Swimming on Facebook for even more info on the team. Our team roster didn't make it on vreds.ca this year, but you can check out roster pictures on our Facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/unbswimming

Good luck to the other VReds teams competing this weekend, especially for the Think Pink games which are raising funds for breast cancer research!

I'll be in touch again during our AUS Championships at Dalhousie!

Natalie