The Last Chance Swim Meet in Haines, Alaska, this past weekend was a success on all levels for the Whitehorse Glacier Bears Swim Club.

First of all, the more than 25 Bears participants all set at least a few personal best times.

'It went fantastic,' said coach Albert Burgund in an interview Tuesday. 'We were in the high 90 percentile range for personal bests for all of the kids and some of them set personal bests in every event.

'It's the largest group we've ever taken to the meet. Twenty-seven kids from virtually all levels other than the top squad were there. We had Cubs, Black Bears and Kodiaks.'

The Glacier Bears were competing against teams from Haines and Juneau, AK., as well as a small group from Arizona. The coach said he had to pack a huge bag full of ribbons home from Alaska. The competitors get a ribbon for every event, so if you have 27 kids in a minimum of ten races, that would be about 270 ribbons.

'We did very well,' said Burgund, although he didn't have the full results from the meet as of press time today. 'It would almost be a disservice to pick one or two kids who were better than anyone else.'

The coach pointed out that both Alexandra Gabor and Tanner Cassidy were outstanding for the club, though. In all, six club records were set at the meet.

'I expect them to break those records now,' Burgund laughed. 'So, I don't really even watch for that anymore.'

A huge parent contingent also made the trip to Haines, driving through the winter road conditions. Burgund said the club was initially worried the roads would be closed or too dangerous to travel on, as has been the case with the South Klondike highway to Skagway, but it ended up being OK. And he added the hospitality in Haines was great.

The meet was also a success for Burgund personally, who doesn't get to travel with the smaller swimmers very often.

'I'm the head coach of the Glacier Bears and so the parents sometimes say, You only go to the bigger races with Mackenzie (Downing),'' he said. 'So I was kind of obligated to go down and work with the little kids, but I really didn't mind it. I had a lot of fun.

'It's things like that, in Haines, that make you realize, That's why I got into coaching in the first place.' That's the good part of the sport, so I don't begrudge that.'

Burgund being in Haines meant that Downing had to travel to the Team Aquatic Supplies B.C. Senior Long Course Championships without him. But the national level swimmer still managed to hold her own in Vancouver, walking away with a gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly and silver in both the 100 and 50-metre fly.

'She did fairly well, considering it was her first time swimming coachless,' said Burgund, who added fellow Glacier Bear Lynsey Pasloski was sick, so she didn't make the trip. 'Not to make excuses, but the one girl who beat her in the 50- and 100-metre races was shaved and tapered for the university championships, which were last week. Mackenzie was not shaved or tapered.

'But every experience brings us closer to her goals.'

Burgund said Downing was 'getting hit on' by all sorts of universities, as the swimmer will graduate high school this year.

The next swim meet for the Glacier Bears will be the Island Invitational, a long course competition which will be held April 20 in Victoria, B.C.

'We're trying to get as many people out (to the meet) as we can,' said Burgund. 'We're hoping to get 15 kids out.'