Competing in the Senior National Championships held in Winnipeg last weekend, two members of the Whitehorse Glacier Bears swim team took home bronze medals.
Bronwyn Pasloski, 16, took third in the 50-metre breaststroke with a time of 32.74. She had advanced to the final with a time of 32.81.
Alexander Gabor, 15, received a bronze in the 200-metre freestyle giving a time of 2:02.27, advancing to the final with a time of 2:02.19 in the preliminaries.
Despite winning medals, both swimmers feel they are capable of more.
“It felt good but I wasn’t as fast as I wanted to be,” said Pasloski. “I was pretty close to my personal bests, but I didn’t get any personal best times.”
“I think all my races were pretty good; some of them could have been a bit better,” said Gabor. “I still have two meets after this one so … I’m hoping I will improve my times.
“I think I did pretty good considering I just came back from World’s and I’m a bit tired.”
Pasloski also finished seventh in 100-metre breaststroke finishing with a time of 1:11.40 in the finals, and won the “B” finals in the 200 breaststroke, which equates to ninth overall.
Gabor also came 16th in the 50-metre freestyle and seventh in the 400-metre freestyle, setting a personal best by three seconds in the preliminary, finishing with a time of 4:20.74.
“Altogether I think they did very well,” said Marek Poplawski, coach of both swimmers.
“I’m very happy we have five swimmers here,” said Poplawski, turning his attention to this weekend. “There are the best swimmer from Canada here … and I’m looking for best times from all my swimmers, hopefully for some finals and some medals.”
This weekend the two swimmers, along with teammates Brice Harding, Tanner Cassidy and Spencer Sumanik, are competing in the Canadian Age Group National Championships in Calgary.
Pasloski is competing in the same events this weekend, but is also entered in the individual-medley, which combines the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
“I think it will be good, I’m excited to swim,” said Pasloski, who three weeks ago in the BC Provincials received gold in both the 100 and 200-metre breaststroke. “(Last weekend I) got more experience … I’m more ready for this week.”
“I feel pretty good about it because I’m with my team,” said Gabor, who won two bronze medals at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Monterrey, Mexico two weeks ago.
“I think it’ll be a lot of fun and having fun will make me be faster. Just because I won’t be worried about my races and I won’t feel pressured or anything.”