By Tom Patrick
News Reporte
Eleven of Whitehorse’s Glacier Bears Swim Club migrated south this past weekend to swim in the BC AAA Long Course Championships followed by Monday’s Swim BC Open Water Championships. Both events were held in Victoria, BC.
Taking home the best results in the AAAs was Isabel Parkkari, 12, winning two medals in the girls 12-and-under division. Parkkari took home silver in the 800-metre freestyle and bronze in the 400-metre freestyle. She also finished sixth in the 200-metre freestyle and seventh on the 200-metre backstroke.
“She was swimming really well, getting best times and she qualified fro Age Group Nationals in Montreal next weekend,” said Glacier Bears head coach Marek Poplawski. “It was fantastic.”
For her achievements, Parkkari was named winner of the Regional Age Group Development Award for the Northwest.
Josh Kelly, 15, was the other Glacier Bear to bring home hardware from the AAAs, capturing silver in the 200-metre breaststroke. He also finished two off the podium in the 100-metre breaststroke, taking fifth.
Other top finishers included Erin McArthur, 11, with a fourth-place finish in the 50-metre freestyle, plus seventh- and eighth-place finishes in the 100-metre backstroke and freestyle events.
Greg Berube came seventh in the 100-metre backstroke for the boys’ 12-and under and Tanner Cassidy matched that result in the boys’ 16-and-over 1500-metre freestyle. Haley Braga took eighth place in the girls’ 12-and-under 200-metre freestyle.
Whitehorse’s Glacier Bears Swim Club finished 20th out of 33 teams at the AAA Championship.
For obvious reasons, such as hyperthermia, Yukoners don’t get too much open-water training. However, that did not prevent some Glacier Bears reaching the podium in Monday’s Swim BC Open Water Championships also in Victoria.
Parkkari continued to show her strength with a silver performance in the girls’ 12-and-under 1.5-kilometre event.
Competing in the boys’ five-kilometre open, Cassidy swam to silver, six spots up from teammate Jason Zrum, while Hayley Bielz finished fourth in the girls’ open.
Other results included Haley Braga coming in 13th in the girls 12-and-under and Kirsten Berube coming in 10th in the girls’ 14-and-under three-kilometre open.
Currently Poplawski is in Montreal with top Glacier Bears Bronwyn Pasloski and Alexandra Gabor for the World Championship Trials/Senior Nationals.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com