Two Glacier Bears Swim Club members returned from Edmonton with medals and the the opportunity even for more at a higher level of competition.
Competing at the Edmonton Keyano Swim Meet over the weekend, Isabel Parkkari and Haley Braga took home medals, but their times also qualified them to compete at next year’s Western Canadian Championships in February.
Bringing in half the team’s hardware was Parkkari, winning silver in the 1,500-metre freestyle and bronze in 800-metre freestyle in the girls’ 13-14 category, setting personal best times in both events.
“All my split times were really consistent; I swam it how I wanted to,” said Parkkari of her 1,500-metre race. “It felt pretty good.”
Teammate Erin McArthur won bronze in the 100-metre breaststroke in the girls’ 12-and-under division and Braga also took bronze in the 200-metre butterfly in the girls’ 13-14 division, setting a new Glacier Bears club record in the process.
Aside from the events they medaled in, Braga also came fifth in both the 200-metre butterfly and 400-metre freestyle, sixth in the 1,500-metre freestyle and seventh in the 800-metre freestyle and 100-metre butterfly.
Parkkari was no slouch in her other events either, coming sixth in the 400-metre and 10th in the 200-metre freestyle races.
“The 400 free stands out because I’m not really a sprinter and the 400 is in between,” said the long-distance freestyle swimmer.
Other top-10 finishes by Glacier Bears include McArthur taking sixth in the 50-metre freestyle and the 200-metre breaststroke, eighth in the 400-metre free and 10th in the 200-metre freestyle. Taylor Campbell, swimming in the 13-14 age group, came seventh in the 100-metre free.
Also competing on behalf of the Whitehorse team were Camille Saunders, finishing 17th in the 100-metre butterfly for the 12-and-under age group, and Shannon Holmes, taking 33rd in the same event for the 15-and-over group.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com