Swimmer Erin McArthur is following in teammate Haley Braga's wake.

Braga was chosen by SwimBC to represent the province at the Pacific Coast All Star meet after strong qualifying times at the 2009 PCS Christmas Cracker SC Invitational meet in Victoria, B.C.

After the 2010 edition of that annual meet, held Dec. 12-14, McArthur qualified for the 2011 Pacific Coast All Star meet in Portland, Ore., on Jan. 7-10, after clocking a time of 1:18.07 in the 100-metre breaststroke – also good enough for second in all of Canada.

"This is the biggest thing that's happened to me so far,” McArthur said, adding that a close second was competing at last year's nationals. "Feels pretty amazing.”

Whitehorse Glacier Bears Alexandra Gabor and Bronwyn Pasloski have also previously been chosen to represent the B.C. swim team at the coastal competition.

Glacier Bears coach Marek Poplawski said McArthur's specialty is the breaststroke.

"She's making steady progress, and I think she'll continue working at that level, she'll be moving up,” Poplawski said.

"The times are not that easy to make, so that gives you some idea that she's at a pretty high level.”

McArthur's performance also clinched her western qualifying time and a spot at the Western Canadian Championships in Kamloops, B.C. on Feb. 17-20.

She pointed out that she missed her western time by milliseconds in the preliminaries last weekend.

"So I was really mad,” she said with a big smile, "but then when I went into finals I was really prepared, and then I just swam, came out with my time and I was really happy.

"I just kind of dug deep and tried my best, whatever the outcome.”

McArthur will be joined in February by Braga, who qualified with a time of 4:36.23 in the 400-m free in Victoria last weekend – nearly two seconds ahead of qualifying time. Isabel Parkkari, Alexandra Gabor and Josh Kelly also have their western qualifying times.

Like McArthur, Braga had a rough race before qualifying.

"I had the 200-m free the day before that and I just missed it…so it was kind of disappointing, but then, I had the 400 free and got in that so it was kind of a big relief,” Braga said.

"I just wanted to give it my all and go for the time.”

She will put in the same amount of training she always does, and will work on her dolphin kick (push off the wall), in the lead up to Kamloops.

"That's something that I want to improve; small things that can make my stroke better,” she said.

Poplawski said making these teams as a Yukon swimmer is about more than qualifying times.

"In B.C., there's 120 swim clubs, and we are only one,” he said. "There's a lot of 12 and under. How many swimmers do they have? I don't know – hundreds. So being from one club from Whitehorse, Yukon, and to make these teams is a big accomplishment.”

The club gets some exposure to competition with Alaskan swimmers and holds its own time trials a few times each year, Poplawski pointed out.

But that's the extent of game experience.

"When you get better, you have to travel, travel to B.C. and other provinces for higher level meets. This is not easy, and not cheap either,” he said.

Eighteen Glacier Bears swimmers competed in the Christmas Cracker over the weekend.

The following are each of the Glacier Bears top three results.

Erin McArthur (12 and under girls): first in the 100-m breaststroke; third in the 200-m breaststroke; and third in the 50-m breaststroke.

Isabel Parkkari (13-14 year olds): second in the 1,500-m free; second in the 800-m free; and sixth in the 400-m free.

Haley Braga (13-14): fifth in the 400-m free; fifth in the 800-m free; and seventh in the 200-m free.

Josh Kelly (15 and over boys): sixth in the 50-m free; eighth in the 50-m breaststroke; eighth in the 100-m breaststroke.

Taylor Campbell (13-14): eighth in the 100-m backstroke; 12th in the 50-m backstroke; and 14th in the 200-m backstroke.

Kristen Berube (15 and over girls): eighth in the 50-m fly; 10th in the 100-m free; and 18th in the 200-m free.

Shannon Holmes (15 and over girls): ninth in the 800-m free; 32nd in the 50-m fly; and 37th in the 200-m individual medley.

Camille Saunders (13-14): 38th in the 50-m backstroke; 40th in the 200-m backstroke; 41st in the 200-m breaststroke.

Daniel Saunders (12 and under boys): 19th in the 50-m breaststroke; 24th in the 200-m free; and 27th in the 50-m backstroke.

Emily Crist (12 and under girls): 19th in the 50-m backstroke; 29th in the 100-m backstroke; and 37th in the 200-m backstroke.

Karine Smith (13-14): 40th in the 200-m breaststroke; 42nd in the 200-m backstroke; and 45th in the 400-m free.

Danielle Smith (13-14): 11th in the 1,500-m free; 27th in the 800-m free; and 30th in 50-m backstroke.

Tynan Leong-Best (15 and over boys): 22nd in 50-m backstroke; 22nd in 50-m breaststroke; and 37th in 100-m backstroke.

Sam Storey (13-14): 21st in 50-m fly; 21st in 50-m breaststroke; and 24th in 200-m breaststroke.

Gavin Young (13-14): 18th in 50-m backstroke; 24th in 200-m backstroke; and 26th

in 100-m backstroke.

Deven Bane: (13-14): 12th in 1,500-m free; 24th in 800-m free; and 34th in 200-m backstroke.

Cassis Lindsay (12 and under girls): 34th in 400-m free; 44th in 200-m breaststroke; and 45th in 50-m free.

Rennes Lindsay (12 and under girls): 49th in 200-m breast; 67th in 200-m free; and 78th in 100-m breaststroke.