Four Whitehorse Glacier Bears’ swimmers each posted personal best times en route to six medals collectively at the Swim BC AA Short Course Provincial Championships in Chilliwack, B.C., over the weekend.
Competing on the Whitehorse team were Taylor Campbell, Gavin Young, Edouard Bourcier, as well as Sam Storey, who took in the lion’s share of the hardware.
“It was a great start to the second half of the season,” said Storey. “And it was a really good pump-up meet because I made my AAA time, which means I can go to the AAA meet. This was definitely a boost.”
Competing in the 14-year-old age category, Storey amassed four medals, including two gold. That is the most medals he has ever collected at one meet.
Storey won gold in the 200-metre freestyle and 200-metre individual medley. He also won silver in the 100-metre butterfly and bronze in the 100-metre freestyle.
While he registered personal best times in all his events, finishing at one minute and 8.81 seconds in the 100-metre butterfly - just three seconds from a club record - gave him his first AAA time.
Storey will now swim at the Swim BC AAA Championships in Surrey, B.C., at the start of March with teammates Erin McArthur, Haley Braga, Cassis Lindsay and Adrian Robinson.
“The one that is most significant was my silver medal in the 100-fly because, even though it wasn’t a gold, it was probably my best race and my favourite,” said Storey, who set his first club record in the 100-metre individual medley at the start of the season.
Storey also came fifth in the 50-metre freestyle and eighth in the 100-metre breaststroke.
Campbell was golden with time to spare in the 200-metre freestyle. Campbell wasted no time building a sizable lead in the event to take gold in the 16-and-older female category.
The 16-year-old seems to have a love-hate relationship with the event.
“I hate the 200 freestyle race, it’s so hard, but at the same time I love the race too,” said Campbell in a media release. “You really have to swim it as a sprint which makes you feel like you are soaring through the water. I find that this is one race that you can really get into it and race hard.”
In addition to the gold, Campbell placed fifth in the 100-metre backstroke and the 100-metre freestyle and tied for sixth in the 200-metre backstroke.
Bourcier won the Glacier Bear’s sixth medal, a bronze in the 400-metre individual medley in the 16-and-older male category. The 17-year-old also placed 11th in the 200-metre breaststroke, 15th in 100-metre breaststroke and 22nd 200-metre freestyle.
Having recently moved into the 15-year-old male category, Young had difficulty cracking into finals. However, he gave personal best performances in all seven of his events, resulting in 13th in the 100-metre butterfly, 18th in the 200-metre freestyle and 19th in the 100-metre breaststroke.
“The four swimmers gelled and supported each other - they were there for each other, which was nice,” said Glacier Bears coach Kat Zrum. “They have been working so much on technique and I was happy because I saw them doing their technique changes. It was part of what they wanted to race with and use. And they stuck with their race plans.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com