The Lindsay sisters led a small but mighty team at the BC AAA swim meet in Victoria last weekend.

Six Whitehorse Glacier Bears made the trip to Vancouver Island, including first-time AAA meet attendee, 11-year-old Amelia Ford.

“It was so much fun,” said Cassis Lindsay. “I got to introduce her to all my friends. The team spirit was a lot more present.”

Normally there are fewer swimmers who attend out-of-territory meets.

Ford had four top 13 finishes and was ninth in her 50 free.

The meet was held in a long course (50-metre) pool and ran over five days with heats in the morning and finals in the evening.

Glacier Bears swam in six finals.

The team’s first and only medal came from Cassis on day 3 in the 50 freestyle.

“It’s a splash and dash, I’ve heard it called. “You can’t think,” she said. “You don’t even realize how you swim. It’s so easy to lose.”

She credits her strong finish for getting her to the wall ahead of fourth, in 27:69.

Sister Rennes, meanwhile was coming off a foot injury, which has kept her from focused training.

As a result, the long distance specialist only raced three events, the 400 free, 800 free, and a 2-kilometre open water swim.

She used her first event to test how her foot felt.

“As the race went on, I realized this was a race, I needed to go hard no matter what,” she said.

So she sped up her kick and came in fourth by eight hundredths of a second.

Her 800 came down to the finish as well. Her foot, an injury she thinks was caused by overstretching before Yukon Championships in May, was feeling good.

“I didn’t see a girl coming up beside me,” she said. “I was only breathing to one side.”

Since starting her open water training, Rennes has modified her stroke to account for staying on course in the outdoor water.

She lifts her eyes above the water to confirm her direction and then breathes to the side.

“When I breathe to one side I get a stride,” she said. “It’s a rhythm I like to follow.”

And that technique carried over into the pool where she just breathes to one side without lifting her head, following the lines on the bottom of the pool.

It’s a little late to be making changes to stroke technique before age group nationals at the end of the month. But after missing out on that medal as the swimmer came up in her blind spot, Rennes will be working on breathing on both sides while she’s swimming in the pool.

Thomas Bakica, 13, also made the journey to Victoria. He had strong swims in both his 1,500 free (22nd) and 400 free (27th) and is gaining more experience at the AAA level of competition.

Coach Malwina Bukszowana said that it can be difficult for younger swimmers to transition from AA to AAA.

Adrian Robinson, 16, had his age group national qualifying teams elude him, but still broke four club records and finished 11th after the 50 breaststroke B final.

Hannah Kingscote, 14, also had a good weekend, swimming close to her best times.

Kingscote qualified for the age group nationals later this month at a special time trial held at the Canada Games Centre earlier this month.

The Whitehorse Glacier Bears will send three girls to the Calgary meet, which runs July 27 to August 1.

BC OPEN WATER CHAMPS

Two Glacier Bears took part in the BC Open Water swimming championships at Thetis Lake the day after AAAs wrapped up. Thomas Bakica swam in his first open water race, coming in 10th with a time of 28:38.23 in the 2-km event.

Rennes Lindsay tried to match her bronze medal performance from last year, but after aging up, her distance was doubled and she had been battling a foot injury, which is now on the mend.

She came in 9th in the 2-km event with a time of 28:32.37.

“She looked really good,” said coach Bukszowana.

The swim began with a mass start, as swimmers held onto a line floating in the water.

“You can’t really touch the bottom,” said Lindsay, “so you just kick off and swim.”

She said the lake was freezing. The athletes aren’t permitted to wear wetsuits, unless the race organizers decided otherwise, usually due to weather conditions.

“The lake was freezing,” she said. “I was all tight and stiff and scared a bit because it was double what I did last year. At about 500 metres I knew I could take it.”

She will suit up for the open water swim again in Calgary after age group nationals, where she’ll swim the 2.5-km race at Arbour Lake.