Whitehorse Glacier Bears swimmers showed great resolve in the face of a less-than-ideal situation recently.

Four Glacier Bears – Haley Braga, Erin McArthur, Taylor Campbell and Kirsten Berube – competed in the BC AAA Long Course Championships in Victoria from July 7-10.

But a June 24 fire set at the Canada Games Centre displaced the swim club from their short-course (25-metre) pool to a long-course (50-metre) pool in Vancouver in the days leading up to the championships.

Turns out, that incident failed to slow down the Glacier Bears.

Incoming coach for the Glacier Bears, Stephanie Dixon, said swimmers were told June 27 the pool was closed.

The following day, the club discussed its training options, and the morning of June 29 the four swimmers were in Vancouver.

Dixon was impressed with how the swimmers handled themselves.

"It's not easy to be reacting to last-minute barriers in the middle of your path to preparing for a big meet, and they just dealt with it so well. I heard no complaints, no excuses; whether they had a good swim or a bad swim, they just did the best that they could, and came out with something positive.”

Braga came away with a new Glacier Bears club record during preliminaries in the 200-metre backstroke with a time of two minutes, 34.71 seconds, surpassing the old mark of 2:36.18, which she set back in early May.

The 14-year-old was also the Yukoner closest to medaling, with a fourth-place finish in the 400-metre freestyle in a time of 4:54.97.

Dixon challenged Braga to create a race strategy and to keep that strategy in mind throughout her races.

"So it was switching all of the girls from this mind-set of mindlessly getting in and mindlessly swimming and hoping they'll have a good time, and I challenged them to actually think about every single thing that they were doing,” Dixon said.

"So the focus wasn't necessarily the final time, but it was to come out of the water and know that you were swimming with intention.

"This kind of attitude is something that we are going to carry forward into next season and beyond that.”

Braga's other results were seventh-place finishes in both the 200-metre free (2:16.31) and 800-metre free (10:10.91), and eighth-place finishes in the 200-metre butterfly (2:38.61) and 200-metre backstroke

(2:36.71) and 14th in the 100-metre free (1:05.90).

McArthur reached the finals of the 13-year-old girls age category twice.

She took eighth in both the 200-metre breaststroke (3:00.86) and in the 100-metre breaststroke (1:23.42).

She also broke 30 seconds in the 50-metre freestyle with a time of 29.98, good enough for 10th place.

Dixon said McArthur's time in that event is a turning point.

"Breaking 30 in the 50 free is a big deal in a swimmer's career,” Dixon said.

Her other finishes included 16th in the 200-metre free (2:25.60), 18th in the 100-metre free (1:07.10) and 26th in the 200-metre individual medley (IM) with a time of 2:47.55.

Racing in the 15-year-old girls age group, Campbell swam to an eighth-place finish in the finals of the 200-metre backstroke with a time of 2:42.39. She also took ninth in the 200-metre free (2:19.52), 11th in the 100-metre back (1:15.37), 22nd in both the 100-metre free (1:06.06) and the 200-metre IM (2:47.73) and 26th in the 50-metre free (31.27).

Berube, racing in the 16-and-over category, placed 19th in both the 400-metre IM (5:45.91) and the 100-metre back (1:17.00), 20th in the 100 free (1:03.59), 21st in the 50 free (29.11), 29th in the 200 IM (2:41.81) and 33rd in the 100 butterfly (1:14.76).

Dixon said training in the 50-metre pool before competing in a long-course meet was both beneficial and challenging.

"But I think that all the girls dealt with it extremely well, we had great performances, a lot of best times; and our main goal was to focus on the things we could control, because there's no point in stressing about the things we can't control and the less-than-ideal situation with the training and the swimming pool.

"Mentally, it prepares them a little bit more for competing long-course. But in terms of their bodies, there was also extra fatigue there as well to deal with.”

For Dixon, the most important aspect of the trip was to build a good relationship with the swimmers in her transition to becoming the full-time coach, which involves learning the different personalities of the athletes.

"It was really exciting for me to have the opportunity to get to know the girls in that way. We were living together in Vancouver for a week, so it definitely fast-forwarded the process of getting to know each other.

"Especially as the coach, I need to know what motivates them, and that's different for each swimmer. Having that time to get to know them inside and outside of the pool was really beneficial for our upcoming season.”

Dixon won 19 medals – seven gold, 10 silver and two bronze – over three Paralympic Games, in Sydney in 2000, Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008.

Born with one leg, Dixon holds four world records.

She is replacing out-going coach Marek Poplawski.

"I just challenged them to, no matter what time you have, come out of it with something that you can take forward,” Dixon said.

The next meet for the Glacier Bears is the Canadian Summer Nationals in Pointe Claire, Que., from July 21-24, then off to Montreal for the Canadian Age Group Championships from July 27-31, and finally Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops, B.C., Aug. 11-14.