Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Marissa Tiel

RECORD BREAKER – Hannah Kingscote, seen here after swim practice at the Canada Games Centre pool last night, had podium performances in all her swims in Medicine Hat, Alta., and broke the Glacier Bears club record for 50m backstroke in her age category.

Battered Glacier Bears break more club records

After swimming more than 50 kilometres in an outdoor 50-metre pool in Mesa,

By Marissa Tiel on April 7, 2017

Whitehorse swimmers win 35 medals, make 49 finals in Medicine Hat

After swimming more than 50 kilometres in an outdoor 50-metre pool in Mesa, Arizona, eight Glacier Bears swimmers travelled to Medicine Hat, Alta. for the Landsperg Automotive Group Spring Invitational.

Despite aching muscles from nearly 26 hours spent training under the hot Arizona sun, the athletes had a combined 35 medals and participated in 49 finals, missing only six over the weekend.

The swimmers weren’t ready to race, but they also weren’t getting ready to race, said coach Malwina Bukszowana.

The spring break camp in Arizona was designed to jumpstart the second half of their swimming season, which is made up of long-course meets.

They were able to practise breathing techniques, understand their stroke counts and gain pool awareness in the facility, which is twice as long as they’re used to in Whitehorse.

On top of the workload in Arizona, the meet in Medicine Hat was an extension of the camp.

“You never swim as fast in training as in racing,” said Bukszowana.

And while their times were slow and their muscles were sore, the Glacier Bears still put on a performance in the pool.

They broke five club records: Luke Bakica’s 200 breastroke (2:44.29), Aidan Harvey’s 50 backstroke (31.91), 100 backstroke (1:03.33), 200 backstroke (2:32.53) and Hannah Kingscote’s 50 back (32.26).

On top of that, they won all the relays they entered.

Luke Bakica won gold in six events and one silver in the 50 butterfly.

“Fly isn’t my best stroke,” he said.

The 16-year-old enjoyed the training camp. He’d never had an opportunity to train in the pool like that before.

“It seems much longer,” he said of the Olympic-distance facility. “I think training three hours a day helped a lot.”

He didn’t make the qualifying times he was aiming for, but is close and hopes to qualify for the national age group championships at the B.C. AAAs in a couple months.

Also hoping to qualify for nationals is 14-year-old Emma Boyd. She had three gold medals and a silver from her swims in Medicine Hat.

Indentifying as a freestyle and sprint specialist, she is closest to qualifying in the 50 free.

“Like a longer fingernail and I’d get the time,” she said before practice last night.

Boyd felt that the team got faster as the meet wore on.

“It was a lot of hard training and for the first day we were kind of tired but then the finals on the first day we were a lot faster,” she said. “The second day we were swimming really well.”

Boyd recorded personal bests in all seven of her events.

Her most memorable swim came in the 200 free final, where she was seeded second.

“The girl beside me was just a bit faster than me and it was pretty much just her and me fighting it out the entire way through,” said Boyd. “I just pulled in front of her just before the end and that was really fun.”

Boyd could see the other swimmer, Red Deer Catalina Swim Club’s Ocean Roos, for the whole race and every time she breathed on that side.

Boyd touched the wall in 2:21.46, while Roos finished in 2:22.21. The next fastest swimmer in their final finished nearly 10 seconds later.

Since it was Bukszowana’s first time at the Medicine Hat meet, she wasn’t sure what the caliber of swimming would be. Nine clubs competed in the meet.

She said once they arrived, they looked at the seeding sheets.

“We knew they would have not much competition,” said Bukszowana.

But the meet did bring the swimmers’ confidence up, she said.

After their hard effort over spring break, Bukszowana is noticing a difference in their training. The swimmers are able to maintain faster times during their sessions than before.

“I can push them much harder in practice now,” she said. “If we can keep it up, the whole summer season will be better.”

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