The Whitehorse Glacier Bears sent two swimmers to B.C. to compete in the Winter Age Groups Championships in Vancouver from Feb. 22-24.

Breanna Faulkner, 11, and Thomas Gishler,13, were the two Yukon athletes competing at the meet. There were approximately 460 swimmers registered to compete in the meet.

Whitehorse Glacier Bears coach Malwina Bukszowana said in an email the two swimmers both had successful weekends, especially against tough competition.

"Both young Yukon athletes swam very well improving their best times significantly," said Bukszowana. "Going outside the Yukon to race against faster swimmers gives the athlete a new experience and helps the coach to see what we need to work on."

There were a few changes in the meets profile. Finals were held in only the 200 Free and the 200 Individual Medley (IM). In all the other events, the winner was declared in the heats.

Bukszowana said both swimmers beat their best times in all events and Gishler broke one WGB club record in the 400 IM.

On Feb. 22 Faulkner raced twice and Gishler three times. Gishler’s day started with the 100 Fly, where he came in 17th. He followed that with a 12th-place performance in the 200 Free. Lastly, he raced in the 400 IM. He came in eighth and set a new WGB club record in the 13-14 age category with a time of 5:19.98.

Faulkner’s first race of the meet was the 200 Free. Faulkner finished the race in a time of 2:47.31 good for the 47th spot. Faulkner’s time showed an improvement of 24 seconds. Later, she competed in the 100 Back and placed 30th.

It was another busy day in the pool for the two swimmers on Feb. 23. Thomas’ day began with the 200 IM race where he came in 16th. His next race was the 400 Free, where he came in fifth in a time of 4:37.71, two seconds off a medal.

Faulkner first raced in the 200 IM, where she came in 56th. She had a strong performance in her second race, coming in 15th in the 100 Breast. She ended her day with a 37th in the 100 Free.

The two Glacier Bears both had two more races on their final day of the meet. Gishler had a top 10 performance in the 200 Fly, coming in ninth with a time of 2:33.81. He finished his meet coming in 22nd in the 200 Breast.

Faulkner’s first race was the 50 Free, where she came in 35th. Her final race of the meet was the 200 Breast where her time of 3:16.30 was good for 16th.

Bukszowana said the two swimmers are walking away from the meet excited for future events.

"Both Breanna and Thomas liked the experience during the B.C. Provincial swim meet and they learned a lot," said Bukszowana. "Now they want to put all this knowledge into practice to work towards improvement for the next big races outside the Yukon."

The Glacier Bears will be back in action this weekend. The team will be taking a team of older swimmers to Kamloops for the Winter Provincial Championships.