After two years of training at the University of Victoria, Yukon swimmer Mackenzie Downing finally has the senior national title she's been coveting.

And she claimed it with a major upset.

The 19-year-old Whitehorse resident was among several swimmers to earn their first senior Canadian title at the national championships last week in Montreal, which also doubled as the 2006 Pan Pacific Trials.

Downing won the women's 200-metre butterfly, clocking 2:11.07. She upset the heavy favourite in the event, Audrey Lacroix, who finished second with a time of 2:11.28. Kayla Rawlings of Langley, B.C., was third in 2:13.56.

Downing's first-place finish also guaranteed her a spot on the Canadian team for the Pan Pacific Championships, which will be held August 16-21 in Victoria. The top-two from each event at nationals and the best 18-and-under swimmer earned berths on Canada's team.

'In the prelims I muscled my way too much to the finish so I focused on staying relaxed for the final and it worked,' said Downing in a press release.� 'I didn't expect to beat Audrey.�

'I'm definitely thinking of my coaches in Whitehorse who helped me so much and my parents of course.� We use to drive for three days to get to Vancouver so I could compete.'

Downing's 200-m fly time was the fourth best time ever by a female Canadian. She also smashed the B.C. senior provincial record in the 100-m fly, with a final time of 1:00.00, and finished second in that event, behind Lacroix who recorded a time of 59.71.

And she was sixth in the 800-m freestyle.

The results were likely very welcomed by Downing, who had a tough first half of the year after suffering a knee injury last fall.

She had some disappointing finishes at the Commonwealth Games Trials last November but bounced back with strong performances at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships in February, where she picked up bronze medals in both the 200-m and 100-m fly.

Downing is currently in Montreal training with the national team for Pan Pacifics and was unavailable for further comment by press time.

Meanwhile, Whitehorse Glacier Bear Alexandra Gabor also attended the event in Montreal last week her first senior national championship. Bronwyn Pasloski qualified to attend the championships but was unable to go.

Gabor, at 13 years of age, was competing against senior national swimmers like Lacroix, Erica Morningstar, Erin Gammel and Kelly Stefanyshyn.

For her first meet at this impressive level she did very well, considering she was competing against 70-90 swimmers in the majority of the events.

During the meet, Gabor also had to shift her mental preparation so that she swam her fastest and best in the preliminary swims, so she could qualify for the evening final swims.

Here are her results:

100-m free 33rd place

200-m free 27th place

400-m free 22nd place

800-m free 45th place

1,500-m free 24th place

Bears head coach Marek Poplawski said it was a good experience for Gabor to compete at this level, and was very rewarding for the athlete at the same time.

Once a swimmer has this level of meet under their belt, it becomes much easier for them the next time around.

Gabor recently won five gold and two silver medals at the club national age group championships, competing in the 13-year-old category.