Records fell at the annual Yukon Invitational Championship Swim Meet in Whitehorse.

The event took place April 28-30.

The Star spoke to Whitehorse Glacier Bears head coach Bronwyn Pasloski on Tuesday about the meet.

“It was an incredible event. I actually think that it was almost emotional. It was so overwhelming, how positive it was.”

Many swimmers came from all over to participate, leading to one of the best turnouts in recent memory.

“We had about, I think, 88 participants,” related Pasloski. “Mostly from the Whitehorse Glacier Bears. But we also had participants from the Grayling’s Master Swim Club, Special Olympics and the Haines (Alaska) Dolphin swim team.”

When asked what ages were involved, Pasloski said, “All of them. We had a range of categories. It was by age group but some of our younger swimmers were around seven and we did have a 19 and over category.

We did have varsity swimmers return, as well as the Masters swimmers were able to participate in our event.

“Our youngest kids in our club were able to participate in this and take part in the action, which was phenomenal.”

Pasloski said there were 10 Yukon Champ records broken over the weekend.

“In this swim meet, they have a record of the fastest times that have ever been recorded. So there’s 10 of those.

“And there was 10 club records. So that’s based on age group, the fastest our club has seen, so there was 10 broken in different categories over on the boys side.”

When asked if this was a qualifying tournament, she replied, “No, this is our year end meet just to celebrate the season. Our younger swimmers wrap up right now, that was the end of their season. So we celebrate that.

“We will have swimmers wrapping up our regular season in June, at the beginning of that, and then we start our summer season. So this is just a traditional swim meet that we host every year. It is an opportunity for other swimmers to gain qualifying times. For example, we had a couple of summers who were able to achieve their divisional times, who can now participate in that over the summer.”

Pasloski said there were some outstanding performances over the weekend.

“There was some really exceptional swims.”

Pasloski said this is the first time in several years that the meet has been extended into Sunday.

“Usually this is only a Friday night and Saturday swim meet but we have extended it into Sunday this year and it’s a very physically challenging swim meet for the athletes. So there were some exceptional swims all around, lots of best times, copious amounts of best times from our athletes. Given the circumstances, it was incredible.”

Next up for the club, a big group of swimmers will be heading down to Kamloops for the Wolfpack Invitational at the beginning of June. This tournament will be a qualifier to see if any of them can participate in summer divisional, provincials or even national swim meets.

“That will be the wrap up of our regular season before we enter into our summer season.”

Pasloski added how much of a success the swim meet was.

“It was a great swim meet. It was so incredible to see. I think it had some of the best turnout that I’ve seen in over the past five years. We had full stands over the weekend. It’s been a long time coming, so it was quite emotional in that way to see such great team spirit being demonstrated throughout the weekend.”

More club info and records can be found at https://www.gomotionapp.com/team/canwgb/page/home