If the Glacier Bears wanted medals, personal bests, qualifying times and club records for Christmas - they got them.
All of those were crossed off the list as 18 swimmers of the Whitehorse club competed at the 2015 Christmas Cracker in Victoria, B.C., over the weekend.
“For WGB having such a big team on the island, with every athlete racing in nine events, it was still a busy weekend for Glacier Bears,” said Glacier Bears head coach Malwina Bukszowana in a news release.
“We had a lot of best times broken and we have few new Whitehorse swimmers who qualified for B.C. (AA) championships. Looks like WGB team for AA Provincials is going to be bigger than two years ago.”
Glacier Bears Donovan Bielz, Donovan Bielz, Liam Diamond and Amelia Ford all registered times qualifying them for the B.C. AA championships in the new year. Ford, 11, notched personal best times in every event she swam.
“This girl is fast and she showed her fighting spirit this weekend,” said Bukszowana.
“Liam Diamond ... made more times than we expected and now he is eligible to be a part of our big team.”
A pair of Glacier Bears also penciled in new times to the club’s record book.
“Alex Petriw was a shining star this weekend, crashing his best times, racing in the finals every night, and breaking the club records in 200 free (2:25.68) and 400 free (5:15.93),” said Bukszowana.
Petriw placed third in the 100 free, sixth in the 1,500 free and also made B finals in the 200 individual medley, 200 free, 50 free and 100 back.
Teammate Thomas Bakica set a club record in the 50-metre butterfly at 35.09, taking sixth, and also won bronze in the 50 free.
Whitehorse’s Cassis Lindsay made three A finals in Victoria, placing fourth in the 50 free, sixth in the 50 back and eighth in the 100 free.
Little sister Rennes Lindsay took sixth in the 400 IM - finishing the prelim in 5:18.53 and the final in 5:20.26 - setting a qualifying time for the National Age Group Championships next summer. She also claimed eighth in the 800 free and sliced a huge 24 seconds off her time in the 1,500 free, taking eighth.
“This is a big improvement at her level of swimming, her times are getting fast and it is becoming harder to break them, but Rennes keeps going,” said Bukszowana. “She has her goals and she pushes herself very hard to achieve them. After winning a medal at the Open Water BC Championships last summer, Rennes wants to represent Yukon in Open Water and National Age Group Championships in July, so she needs to be much faster in long freestyle events.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com