If in a decade Whitehorse Glacier Bear Rennes Lindsay decides to attend the University of Calgary, a strong record in its pool might have something to do with it. As of yet, she’s never lost in it.
For the second year in a row, the eight-year-old swimmer went undefeated in eight races at the Dino Cup, hosted by the University of Calgary over the weekend. She has now won 16 gold medals at the event in two appearances.
“I’m really happy,” said Lindsay, who knows the importance of proper nutrition. “I had lots of snacks, so I thought I would win lots of races.
“My 200-metre individual medley was my best race because I passed somebody twice,” added Lindsay, who beat her personal best time by about nine seconds in the event.
Not only did Lindsay set personal best times in seven of eight events, she was the aggregate winner for her age division.
“She is a very strong swimmer,” said Glacier Bears coach Kathy Zrum. “She’s been working on her technique for the past few months and it definitely showed. She is a very focused, very driven swimmer and wants to do well.”
Eight other Glacier Bears were also in Calgary and brought their A game, exemplified by the numerous personal best times produced by each team member.
Also an aggregate winner, but in the nine-year-old division, was Whitehorse’s Celeste Findlay, capturing five gold medals and adding more hardware with a silver in the 50-metre freestyle and a bronze in the 50-metre butterfly.
Cassis Lindsay, in the toughest, 10-year-old division, won bronzes in the 50-free and 50-backstroke, and came fourth in the 50-breast and 50-fly.
“I have 16 swimmers, and five that swim in my fast lane, and Cassis and Celeste are two of those people,” said Zrum. “They are very focused and they train really hard. They put a lot of energy and effort into what they do.”
In her first Outside meet Glacier Bear Hannah Kingscote, 8, won bronze in the 25-metre butterfly, came fifth in the 25-free and 10th in the 25-breaststroke.
Teammate Dana Sellars, 9, swam to seventh in the 100-free and 12th in the 25-fly.
Erin McBryan, 10, reached the top-10 in the 25-fly, taking ninth, and also came 14th in the 50-metre race.
Shailyn Moore, 9, hit 10th in the 25-breast and 15th in the 25-free.
Whitehorse also had representation in the eight-year-old boys’ division, both taking in three top-10 results.
Alexander Petriw grabbed fifth in the 25-back, seventh in the 25-breast and ninth in the 25-free.
Liam Diamond was sixth in the 25-breast, eighth in the 25-fly and 10th in the 50-breast.
“It was an excellent opportunity for them to go out and race in an Outside meet and compete,” said Zrum of the boys’ contingent. “These two don’t have a lot of race experience, but I thought they raced really well, pushing hard to go to the end. They had good starts and finishes.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com