The current crop of Whitehorse Glacier Bears continued to rewrite the record books last weekend.

Malwina Bukszowana’s troops broke a slew of meet and club records at the Ryan Downing Memorial Swim Meet, held Friday and Saturday at the Canada Games Centre.

Each of the Lindsay sisters – Cassis and Rennes – set three new meet records, while Thomas Bakica broke five and Adrian Robinson, four. (Records noted below)

Robinson’s swims in the 50 Free and 50 Breast also set new club benchmarks for boys age 13 and 14.

The swimmerss showed a marked improvement, said Bukszowana, the club’s head coach.

“Whitehorse Glacier Bears older swimmers, besides more qualifying times for AA and AAA B.C. championships, also broke 15 Ryan Downing meet records,” Bukszowana told the Star, adding that the hard work put into their practice sessions really paid off.

Cassidy Cairns, Hannah Kingscote, Ella Pollock-Shepherd and Mael Pronovost were also in fine form in the season’s first event, she noted.

The Glacier Bears welcomed the Haines Dolphins from Alaska to join them for the meet, which also feautred a large number of younger swimmers.

The growing number of young competitors is a good sign for the club, said Bukszowana.

“There is a lot of fight and sparkle in our under 10-year-old swimmers,” she said.

Many of the youngsters showed better body position in their swims after spending plenty of time on kicking in practice.

“The younger Glacier Bears are hungry to win,” said Bukszowana.

Some of the youngest swimmers to snap up wins included Maddy Mead (50 Free, 50 Back, 100 Free, 100 back), Jaime Chown-Chaikel (100 Free), Myles Terry (50 Free, 100 Free) and Ben Qually (50 Back, 100 Back).

Haines swimmer Rylee Tonsgard earned victory in the 100 Breast.

Starring in the nine-and-10-year-old category was Christopher Blakesley, who won six races, including the 100 Breast, 50 Back, 50 Free, 100 Back, 200 Breast, and 100 IM.

Other winners included: Brook Steward (50 Free), Ruby Lieu-Ashthorn (100 Breast, 50 Back, 100 Back), Kassua Dreyer (100 Free), Amelia Barrault (200 Breast) and Liam Simons (100 Free).

The Ryan Downing Memorial Swim Meet honours the late Yukon swimmer, who died one week after his 13th birthday in 1996 due to a heart problem.

The meet is an opportunity for aspiring swimmers to experience the joy of competition and welcome their Alaskan rivals to join in the fun.

Record breakers

CASSIS LINDSAY (Girls 13 and 14)

50 Back – 32.54
100 Back – 1:09.40
100 IM – 1:13.40

RENNES LINDSAY (Girls 11 and 12)

200 Fly – 2:44.94
100 IM – 1:16.83
400 IM – 5:39.89

THOMAS BAKICA (Boys 11 and 12)

200 Free – 2:36.58
400 Free – 5:36.97
800 Free – 11:18.57
100 Fly – 1:28.17
200 Fly – 3:16.96

ADRIAN ROBINSON (Boys 13 and 14)

50 Free – 27.04 (also club record)
50 Back – 33.15
50 Breast – 34.46 (also club record)
100 Breast – 1:18.31