The Whitehorse Glacier Bears sent a team of seven boys and eight girls to the 14th annual Xmas Cracker in Victoria, B.C., over the weekend.
Only girls from the club reached the podium at the short course swim meet.
Glacier Bears Hannah Kingscote, Amelia Ford and Emma Boyd each won a medal.
Kingscote, who was competing in girls 13-14, took silver in the 50-metre backstroke with a time of 32.02 seconds.
She also placed seventh in the 100 back (1:12.20) and the 50-metre butterfly (31.71), and eighth in the 200 back (2:33.35). She set personal best times in both the 100 and 200 back events.
“Hannah Kingscote finished eighth in 200m backstroke improving her time by four seconds,” said Glacier Bears head coach Malwina Bukszowana in a media release. “She was faster in the morning than in the final and the morning time gave her qualifying standard for AAA B.C. Championships and now she is only one second away from her national time in this event.”
Ford captured bronze in the 50 fly (33.73) for girls 12-and-under. She also placed sixth in the 50 freestyle (30.62) and 10th in the 100 free (1:07.54). Ford achieved B.C. AA times in the 200 free (with 13th), the 100 free, the 50 free and the 100 back (with 14th).
Boyd swam best times in seven events and sped to bronze in the 50 free for girls 13-14 with a time of 28.25. She also took seventh in the 50 back (35.87) and 12th in the 100 free with a B.C. AA time of 1:03.86.
“On Sunday Emma finished third in 50-meter freestyle A final and with her time she is only six milliseconds away from her first AAA B.C. time standard,” said Bukszowana. “She had a great meet, she was taking every advice, writing down her splits and what she needs to work on in the near future to swim even faster. She is very eager to be better, hungry for a success.”
Teammate Meghan Pennington took ninth in the 50 back (37.10) for girls 13-14; Rebecca Koser 11th in the 50 breaststroke (40.53) for girls 15-and-over; Amelia Barrault 15th in both the 50 free (32.10) and 50 fly (39.62) for girls 12-and-under; Brooklyn Massie 18th in the 800 free (10:38.17) for girls 13-14; and Cassidy Cairns 20th in the 100 back (1:24.65) for girls 13-14.
Joshua Zaidan had the top finish for the Glacier Bears boys, placing seventh in the 50 fly (36.67) in boys 12-and-under. He also posted a ninth place finish in the 50 breast (46.61) and 11th in the 50 free (31.58).
In the same division teammate Christopher Blakesley placed 10th in the 50 breast (47.00) and 11th in the 50 back (43.12).
Whitehorse’s Aidan Harvey, swimming in boys 13-14, placed 10th in the 100 back (1:08.95) and 13th in the 200 back at 2:26.32, for a new Glacier Bears club record and a B.C. AA time.
“Aidan also showed his very good team leading skills during this weekend, while helping all his teammates, no matter what age they were, being a great example for everybody with his readiness for every race, warm up, as well directions for the youngest about the details,” said Bukszowana.
Glacier Bears’ Finn Johnson took 10th in the 50 fly (38.63) for boys 13-14; Alexander Petriw 12th in the 50 free (28.00) for boys 13-14; Thomas Bakica 17th in the 1,500 free (21:29.03) for boys 13-14; and Olie Johnson 20th in the 50 breast (58.98) for boys 12-and-under.
“Brothers Finn and Ollie Johnson and Christopher Blakesley were doing very well this weekend,” said Bukszowana. “All of them were breaking their best times by a lot in every stroke and are very interested in every stroke correction.”
Bakica, Harvey, Zaidan and Petriw swam to seventh in the boys 4×50 freestyle relay (1:56.15); Harvey, Bakica, Johnson and Petriw eighth in the boys 4×50 medley (2:18.33); Kingscote, Pennington, Cairns and Boyd 10th in the girls 4×50 free (2:00.81); and Massie, Cairns, Kingscote and Boyd 13th in the girls 4×50 medley (2:18.87).
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com