For the first time since 2014 the Whitehorse Glacier Bears club record book went unaltered at the Yukon Championship Invitational Swim Meet.
No club records were set but four meet records bit the dust at the championships, held May 5-6 at the Canada Games Centre. Nine club and 13 meet records were set at the championship last year.
Glacier Bears Thomas Gishler and Alex Petriw both set a pair of meet records at the event that included swimmers from Alaska’s Haines Dolphins club and one from the Campbell River Killer Whales.
Gishler, who swam in the boys 11-12 division, set a new meet record in the 100-metre butterfly, breaking it in the preliminary at 1:23.95 and then again in finals at 1:23.57.
Gishler then swam the 400-metre individual medley in 6:07.02 to notch a second meet record.
Petriw, in boys 13-14, set meet records with 27.33 seconds in the 50-metre freestyle and 9:51.99 in the 800-metre freestyle.
“We had a time trial (April 8) and I think the kids swam much better (this weekend),” said Glacier Bears head coach Malwina Bukszowana. “Looking from the younger to the older, I think we have a much stronger younger team than we used to. Every year I think we get stronger, we build up the base.”
Gishler and Petriw were among six Glacier Bears swimmers to win seven gold medals at the championships. The others were Kassua Dreyer, Luke Bakica, Cassis Lindsay and Rennes Lindsay. All of them won aggregate titles in their respective divisions.
Rennes Lindsay, who was the girls 13-14 aggregate champion, is the only Whitehorse swimmer who has so far qualified for the Canadian Junior Championships, at the end of July in Toronto, said Bukszowana.
“Cassis (Lindsay) and Hannah (Kingscote) are very close. They’re just milliseconds away but are still fighting for it,” said Bukszowana. “I also hope for Alex (Petriw) to qualify for it too. It’s going to be tough, but there’s a chance. Maybe Aidan Harvey. Chances are low, but there’s chances they could make it.”
The Lindsay sisters and Kingscote all competed at the nationals last year.
With many Glacier Bears swimmers sick and out of territory during the Yukon championships, the club will host an extra time trials event at the end of the month to give swimmers another shot at posting qualifying times for major events, like the nationals.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com
Aggregate standings
Girls 10-and-under
1st Rio Ross-Hirsch (Haines)
2nd Lydia Brown (Whitehorse)
3rd Sabine Keesey (Whitehorse)
Boys 10-and-under
1st Simon Conell (Whitehorse)
2nd Alex Weerasinghe (Haines)
3rd Dalton Henry (Haines)
Girls 11-12
1st Kassua Dreyer (Whitehorse)
2nd Amelia Ford (Whitehorse)
3rd Brynna Lalonde (Whitehorse)
Boys 11-12
1st Thomas Gishler (Whitehorse)
2nd Gregory Hall (Whitehorse)
3rd Olie Johnson (Whitehorse)
Girls 13-14
1st Rennes Lindsay (Whitehorse)
2nd Meghan Pennington (Whitehorse)
3rd Ella Pollock Shepherd (Whitehorse)
3rd Camilla Hallock (Whitehorse)
Boys 13-14
1st Alex Petriw (Whitehorse)
2nd Thomas Bakica (Whitehorse)
3rd Liam Diamond (Whitehorse)
3rd Finn Johnson (Whitehorse)
Girls 15-and-over
1st Cassis Lindsay (Whitehorse)
2nd Rebecca Koser (Whitehorse)
3rd Shailyn Moore (Whitehorse)
Boys 15-and-over
1st Luke Bakica (Whitehorse)
2nd Ulysse Girard (Whitehorse)
3rd Makinen Leong- Allan (Whitehorse)