For the third meet in a row, Thomas Bakica was a record-breaker.
The Whitehorse Glacier Bears swimmer broke club records five times en route to winning three medals at the B.C. AA Long Course Championships over the weekend in Victoria.
“Thomas Bakica obviously stood out with all his medals,” said Glacier Bears head coach Stephanie Dixon.
The 10-year-old, who was swimming in the 11-and-under division, won silver in the 200-metre individual medley and bronze in the 100- and 200-metre breaststroke.
Bakica set club records in the 100-metre breaststroke (1:38.81), the 50-metre breaststroke (45.98), the 400-metre freestyle (6:03.08) and the 200-metre breaststroke in the preliminary and then again in the final at 3:25.98.
His 200 breast time also qualified him for the AAA next month while his 400 free time gave Bakica a fourth place finish.
Having an older brother to look up to has helped Bakica, said Dixon.
“His brother (Luke) set the bar for him,” said Dixon. “His brother also had a stellar season with a gold medal at the short course AAs, but then he aged up.
“It’s sometimes unfortunate where birthdays fall. If Luke had a birthday three weeks later, he would have been sweeping all the events and getting medals in everything ... but he still managed to make a couple finals anyway.”
Luke, who was in the 13-year-old division, was edged out of hardware in three events. He finished fourth in the 200-metre individual medley, the 200-metre breaststroke and the 400-metre freestyle.
Glacier Bears teammate Aidan Harvey also raked in the accomplishments in Victoria.
The 10-year-old, who was
swimming in 11-and-under, set a club record (3:01.01), won bronze and achieved a AAA time in the 200-metre backstroke.
He also placed fourth in the 100-metre backstroke.
A total of six Whitehorse swimmers - four 10-year-olds and two 13-year-olds - competed at the AAs.
“It was a really young group, but it was great for the 13-year-olds to act as team leaders,” said Dixon. “It really put them in a different role. They did a great job supporting the younger guys at their first big meet.
“Our little 10-year-olds just did fantastic. Two of them qualified for AAAs, which is incredible because the age group is 11-and-under.”
Taylor Harvey, swimming in the women’s 13-year-old division, placed 10th in the 100-metre butterfly and 12th in the 100-metre backstroke.
Hannah Kingscote and Brooklyn Massie, who are both 10, qualified for the AAs just at the end of May in Nanaimo.
“So they were basically there for the experience and both of them ended up making a final, which was really exciting,” said Dixon. “Everyone stepped up their game and did a great job.”
Kingscote came eighth in the 100-metre butterfly. Massie placed sixth in the 200-metre freestyle final and eighth in the 100-metre freestyle.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com