Several members of the Whitehorse Glacier Bears Swim Club recently travelled to Vancouver for the end of season AA provincial championships at the Percy Norman Pool.

Travelling with the team for their first time at this level of swim meet were Kaylie Allison, Aurora Cherian-Kuni, Brice Harding and Spencer Sumanik.

Seasoned swimmers included Kate McArthur, Hayley Bielz, Jason Zrum. Kathy Zrum made the trip as coach.

The swimmers brought back nine medals, including gold in the 100-metre backstroke and 100-m breaststroke for McArthur, who set a AAA qualifying time in the 100-m back. McArthur, swimming in the 12-year-old division, also grabbed silver in the 50-m free, 200-m IM and 100-m free.

She swam in each final, which on Saturday was three finals, after having swam three times in the morning, and then continued to achieve more personal best times.

Bielz collected gold in the 800-m free and silver in the 400-m free, while Jason took bronze in the 400-m IM and 100-m free.

The other swimmers also posted impressive performances. Harding went under 30 seconds in the 50-m free and also swam a very strong 100-m breaststroke.

Cherian-Kuni made a final in the 100-m fly and finished the race in fifth place, an improvement from the preliminary round in the morning, and achieved a AA qualifying time.

Sumanik, swimming in the tough 14-and-older age division, had a fantastic 200-m free swim, achieving another personal best, and then finished the meet with a very fast 100-m fly race, achieving a AA qualifying time in this event.

Allison, for her first time at this level of meet, swam very aggressively and finished the meet with several personal bests and a lot of improvement in her race strategies.

All of the distance events at the meet were done with two swimmers in each lane and for most of the Glacier Bears, this was a new experience.

Jason was seeded as a medal contender in the 400-m freestyle race, but unfortunately, the other swimmer in his lane swam right into Jason, just after he had completed a turn. The end result is that they bumped heads quite strong. It was great that Jason completed the swim, and finished in fourth place.

Kate McArthur swam in the 12 year old division and medaled all five of her swims.

Despite being one of the smallest teams at the swim meet, the Bears were often referred to as the loudest cheering team. Fans Andy Bielz, Sue Harding, Cathy Morton-Bielz and Mike McArthur could always be heard while on deck.

The seven swimmers at the start of each session also provided the fans with a good loud Whitehorse cheer. People definitely knew where the Bears were from.

Here are the complete results from the swim races:

Kate McArthur

1st, 100-m backstroke

1st , 100-m breaststroke

2nd, 50-m free

2nd, 100-m free

2nd, 200-m IM

Hayley Bielz

7th, 50m-freestyle

6th, 200-m freestyle

10th, 100-m breaststroke

5th, 100-m freestyle

1st, 800-m freestyle

2nd, 400-m freestyle

Aurora Cherian-Kuni

14th, 800-m freestyle

7th, 200-m IM

10th, 50-m freestyle

5th, 400-m IM

5th, 100-m fly

Kaylie Allison

15th, 800-m freestyle

9th, 50-m freestyle

9th, 400-m freestyle

12th, 200-m freestyle

16th, 100-m breaststroke

7th, 100-m free

Spencer Sumanik

9th, 200-m IM

17th, 50-m free

14th, 200-m free

14th, 100-m fly

Brice Harding

9th, 1,500-m free

12th, 50-m free

9th, 200-m breast

10th, 100-m breast

10th, 100-m freestyle

Jason Zrum

4th, 1,500-m freestyle

4th, 400-m freestyle

10th, 100-m backstroke

7th, 50-m freestyle

3rd, 400-IM

3rd, 100-m free

Next up for the Whitehorse Glacier Bears, the SilverTip swimmers travel to Victoria, B.C. for the AAA provincial long course championships.

Those will be held July 6-9.