Kenny And Kingston Lead REDS On Day 1 At AUS

(ST. JOHN'S, NL) Three UNB REDS captured gold medals on day one of the 2026 Atlantic University Sport Swimming Championships, in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Blake Kingston won his third consecutive men's 100-metre breaststroke title in 1:00.35, a time that qualifies him for the U SPORTS Championships. Kingston beat second place by almost three full seconds and bettered his own AUS record in the process.

"I felt good and it's a great start to the weekend," said Kingston. "I'm happy to come out with a win and begin with high energy going into day two."

UNB's Matthew deGoey finished a very close fourth in the race.

First-year RED Bronwyn Preece won the women's 50-metre backstroke and veteran Maxime Kenny won the men's 50-metre backstroke. His winning time of 25.67 seconds qualifies him for the U SPORTS Championships.

"I'm very proud and grateful," said Kenny. "Coach Marta, my parents, and all my teammates and friends who've supported me, I wouldn't be here without them."

"It was over so suddenly," said Preece about her win. "I didn't have much time to think. I was focused on my dive, my underwaters, and the turn."

Kenny also earned a silver medal in the men's 100-metre butterfly and teammate Daniel Duguay swam to the bronze medal. UNB's Camden Reid was 25/100ths of a second behind Duguay for fourth place.

In the women's 200-metre freestyle, Marie McDougall continued her impressive first season by grabbing third place and the bronze medal.

"Our rookies are showing signs of a promising future," said REDS' head coach Marta Belsh. "That's creating positive momentum for the team. Their energy and racing brought a new level of performance for the entire team tonight."

UNB teams won silver medals in both the women's and men's 4-by-100-metre freestyle relays.

After the first day of competition, the REDS men sit second in the team standings while the UNB women are third.

Day two of the three-day conference championship meet goes Saturday with qualifying heats in. the morning and finals late afternoon.

STORY BY: Andy Campbell/UNB REDS

PHOTOS BY: Udantha Chandraratne/for Memorial Athletics