Whitehorse Glacier Bears swimmers Hannah Kingscote and Aidan Harvey are off to university.

“They are. And we are very excited.” gushes Whitehorse Glacier Bears swim club Head Coach Carmen Escobar.

She says the good news came about in different ways for both of them.

“Hannah was very set on trying the states adventure – completely different journey than the Canadian universities I guess. So she managed to talk to different coaches who started to recruiting her. They look at her profile. There is this specific website where swimmers submit a profile with basically academic results and swimming results, so coaches start to scout them, like to look at them. She had the opportunity to talk to a few coaches and different universities in U.S., and I personally know the Northern Colorado coach, because I have given her some swimmers in the past from my previous clubs. When she started to like Hannah, I said ‘Ok, Hannah, this is good, very good,’ because I know her, and I’m pretty sure she will fit very well with her coaching style. There was another … North Dakota or South Dakota … that was also recruiting her quite aggressively. But I was very happy that Northern Colorado worked out.”

According to Escobar, Harvey was destined to take a different path than Kingscote. “First he was not necessarily into university journey, and it kind of worked out, because he started to entertain the idea of ‘Ok, I think I can do this, I can go to school, I can swim, it could be a good experience for me, and he started to look at Canadian universities. For him, U.S. was not an option, which is ok … the University of Guelph fit very well with his academic needs, and his swimming program as well.”

“I coached in Ontario for 10 years, so I know the universities in Ontario very well, and I think Guelph program is going to fit very well for him, because he’s more of a sprinter style of swimming. And that’s something universities specialize very well. They have successful sprinters, and I think he’s going to thrive for that.

Escobar is thrilled the dynamic duo are swimming up to the next level. “It’s something I am very excited about because I think for this program, that hasn’t been a path that was pursued before. It was decades ago, but for a while, it was not promoted, or attached to what the club was doing, so I am a firm believer that high school and elementary school stages are just the beginning of the athletic career, so for me university swimming and beyond that is the most important part. So the fact that it was not being promoted was something that I just didn’t agree too much, so I kind of started to create that culture and that idea.

“Hannah was actually a swimmer who struggled a little bit in the past three to four years and she was actually out of swimming before I came in for quite a few months, so she kind of made a great comeback, because it was not only picking up where she left, it was getting a lot better and eventually attractive enough to be recruited by a university whose Division 1 in U.S., which is the hardest division in the NCAA system, and I love that story, because that is a very strong comeback into the sport, and thinking about beyond high school, and actually going after university goals.

“So I’m very happy … and it is giving a lot of conversation with my high schoolers actually. They are talking about university. They are thinking about what would be the best for them. That is a conversation I enjoy to have with my athletes and I think next year I will be graduating and saying goodbye to another two to three athletes. It will be a nice journey.”

As for the secret to their success, “they are both very different.” says Escobar. “But both of them are meeting the same requirements in the pool that they needed to succeed. Most of that had to do with hard work and commitment and the everyday fight, right? Like you have to go to practice with an open mind that it’s gonna be a challenge, it’s gonna be hard, but you have to succeed, and practice and succeed. I ‘m not meaning being every time successful – if it was a bad practice you just gotta pick yourself off the ground, get back the next day, and try again. They both fought through that, and very successfully, to tell you the truth, because this improvement, in this weary year, which has been very odd since March 2020, has been hard.

That has probably been the most difficult year I have coached in my 24 years of experience.”

Escobar says the club has had to hold their own meets during this difficult year.

“We actually ran a lot of time trials this year, ... to give our swimmers a lot of opportunities, so the last two were the end of June and mid-July. So about three weeks apart.

“Those were the hardest ones, because we were so exhausted by then mentally, but swimmers probably had their best performances in the window between February and May. That was when they were on fire. The entire team. But then the rest of the swimmers are young, so they were not necessarily being recruited, so these two, it was important that they swim solid enough, and they did ... when they were supposed to, so that was awesome.

“We always hosted at home because nobody were allowed to receive any teams, but our competitions were always official, so our times were always ranked nationally, because we had the officials to sanction our meet.

When asked how far she thinks Kingscote and Harvey are capable of going, Escobar replied, “Hannah has a vey good scenario to be an NCAA qualifier. If that happens, that means she’s playing in the big leagues. And Aidan will have a harder road to cover, because he’s coming a little bit behind in the training, and he had a couple of shoulder injuries we were navigating through this year, but the same for both.

“Now they have different context, and it’s going to help them perform the best, because university programs have all these resources for these athletes normally clubs don’t have. They have weight training, they have a nutritionist, they have a psychologist, they have tutoring, they have all of this … available to them.

“Hannah is arriving at university in a way better position. I think she is in her team already in the top three or four in her roster. Aidan is going to be a bit more at the bottom ... both cases are excellent. If Aidan can only go up. Hannah’s going to have to fight to stay at the top, and that’s good.

Kingscote, 19, specializes in the 100 metre butterfly and the 100 and 200 metre backstroke.

“I have started to expand my events over the last two years with Carmen, but those three will always be my main three,” says Kingscote.

“From what I know I will mostly be focusing on those ones (in university), but if they want to put me in other events, I would be more than happy to help the team out with those, but for the most part I just think it will be the backstroke and the (butter)fly events.”

Kingscote explains how she ended up going to North Colorado.

“In Carmen’s first season with us, she kind of mentioned that she thought that would be a good team for me … she thought that I would fit in really well there, so I kind of started talking to the coaching staff there, in early 2020, but due to the pandemic, a lot of stuff got messed up for a lot of different athletes, so I ended up taking a development year here, and just kind of focusing on training, but always just continued reaching out to schools, and just really connected with the coaching staff at Northern Colorado, so that was my pick.”

Kingscote attributes her success to her coaches, family and friends. “All the coaches that I’ve had along the way. Each one kind of taught me a little lesson to help me further my skills. My family has always been very supportive. And definitely all the friends I’ve made through the sport have helped me continue to push myself.”

Kingscote is doing a four-year program in kinesiology. She didn’t have an opportunity for a scholarship this year, but there’s always next year.

“Just because I was signed so late in the season, there’s no athletic money, but that’s definitely a goal for next season.”

As for going to the next level, Kingscote says she is “very excited but also nervous, a little sad to be leaving the Glacier Bears after so many years, but I think all the stuff I learned here will definitely help me with the next chapter of my swim journey.”

“The end goal would be to try to compete for Team Canada. I have a lot of work to get me there, but that’s definitely the end goal.”

Harvey, 19, specializes in the 100 and 200 metre backstroke, and would continue that at Guelph.

“I would be doing other stuff. I would be improving my backstroke, freestyle, and (butter)fly.”

Harvey also was encouraged by Coach Escobar to pursue a swimming career at university.

“I graduated in 2020, the swim teams across Canada were obviously not doing much, but I tried going to online school at UVic (University of Victoria), and that didn’t pan out so well. I had a lot of trouble learning online, so I stopped that, and I was just looking at universities, and ... Carmen ... recommended a couple of schools. I looked into them, and applied to them, and Guelph got back to me sooner. I got easier contact with their coach, so I decided to go there.”

Harvey says it feels pretty good to be going to the next level.

“I’m definitely excited to be swimming with new faces, not that I didn’t like swimming with my friends, but I’m definitely excited.”

Harvey attributes his success to all the coaches he’s had, including Stephanie Dixon, Malwina Bukszowana, and Carmen Escobar. Harvey says Escobar has had a big impact on him.

“She’s been with us for two years, and I’d say a much greater impact than I would have thought. She has some very – at least to me – unique styles of coaching. I thought I really responded well to it. I would say probably she had the greatest impact on me. She’s an excellent coach and I am very glad I got to work with her.”

Of course, there have been others who helped Harvey long the way.

“My mother definitely helped a lot. I’m not much of a cook, and she always makes sure … that there’s something in the fridge for me to eat, and when I come home from swim practice late at night and I’m hungry, dinner’s always made. And I really can’t express enough how much that means.”

How far does Harvey think he can go?

“Swimming at university is the foreseeable goal, and the achievable goal. And just swimming throughout my university career, but I … obviously I would like to go to the Olympics, but I don’t think I have the capabilities of doing that.”

Harvey will be taking Bio-Resource Management, a degree program, at Guelph. When asked if he was going more for education than swimming, he replied “Definitely both. I would be far less excited to go to school if I wasn’t swimming, but I would definitely still be doing it. I’d say it’s about 50-50.”

Living in Guelph will be an adjustment for him. “I’m definitely excited though. I’ve never lived outside of Whitehorse. I’m more excited than I am nervous.”

Harvey will be doing a road trip to Guelph with his father in late August.

As far as the Glacier Bear swim club goes, it’s business as usual for Escobar.

“We’re going to continue to focus ... on delivering swimmers to the best universities we can find – that is a goal for the club. From there obviously we are going to try to vie for junior national teams, and senior national teams if we have the talent and the ability to do so, we’ll always be looking for those type of goals, and we’re excited for next year, that’s for sure. Hopefully things are going to go back to normal, and competitions will make a huge difference for us, and for everybody I guess, and let’s see. We’re ready.”