The Whitehorse Glacier Bears swim club opened the new season with a bang this past weekend, setting 16 club records and one B.C. provincial record at the annual Ryan Downing Memorial meet.

While the majority of the nearly-80 athletes were Glacier Bears, Haines, Alaska had seven swimmers in the pool, with four Whitehorse masters swimmers and two Yukon Special Olympics athletes also joining in the action.

The majority of the swimmers achieved personal bests, as 36 meet records also fell by the wayside. Several achieved B.C. AAA qualifying times.

Glacier Bear Alexandra Gabor started off her new season with an incredible performance in the 1,500 metre freestyle Friday evening. She broke the provincial record of 18:03.54, posting a time of 17:38.76. Gabor missed a senior national qualifying time in the event by just 5/10 of a second, at the tender age of 12. She also missed the Canadian record for the 12-and-under age group by four seconds.

'I think that was the best swim of the meet,' said Marek Poplawski, head coach of the Glacier Bears. 'In December (at the Christmas Cracker meet in Victoria), she will try to break that record again.'

Poplawski is expecting big things from Gabor this season, after she brought home numerous pieces of hardware last year, including three gold and two silver medals at club nationals in Winnipeg.

Bronwyn Pasloski, who was also dominant in competition last season, will join Gabor at club nationals again this year, as well as the Western championships in February. Poplawski is hoping to have a few more swimmers qualified for Westerns after the Christmas Cracker meet, including Brendan Zrum.

Poplawski said overall, he was pleased with the performance of all the swimmers this past weekend, especially considering the older swimmers weren't tapered for the event.

'Basically, I just wanted to see where we stand. I am very happy with the good start and we'll just keep working hard and see what happens.'

Here are the aggregate results of the Ryan Downing Memorial meet. All swimmers are from the Whitehorse Glacier Bears unless otherwise noted:

8-and-under

Female

1 Erin McArthur

2 Tess Turnbull, Haines

2 Haley Wirachowsky

Male

1 Jordan Badger, Haines

2 Wyatt Edmonds

3 Esteban Engrasser

10-and-under

Female

1 Isabel Parkkari

2 Nadia Petriw

3 Taylor Campbell

Male

1 Craig Berube

2 Caullen Taylor, Haines

3 Kai Sato-Franks, Haines

11-12

Female

1 Alexandra Gabor

2 Cascade Galasso, Haines

3 Kirsten Berube

Male

1 Mark Verhalle

2 Joshua Kelly

13-14

Female

1 Bronwyn Pasloski

2 Molly Purser

3 Anne Aubin

Male

1 Tanner Cassidy

2 Spencer Edelman

2 Jason Zrum

3 Connor Oliver-Beebe

Open

Female

1 Erin O'Connor

2 Ariana Edelman

3 Annie-Claude Gaudet

Male

1 Brendan Zrum

2 Alan Lebedoff

3 Geoffrey Thompson

Here are the individual event results from the Ryan Downing Memorial meet:

Girls 8-and-under

50-m Backstroke

1 Jessica Harach, 1:01.35

2 Haley Wirachowski, 1:08.11

3 Megan Wirachowski, 1:28.33

50-m Freestyle

1 Erin McArthur, 1:05.77

2 Haley Wirachowski, 1:16.38

3 Tess Turnbull, 1:19.59

Mixed 8-and-under

25-m Freestyle

1 Jordan Badger, 23.11

2 Erin McArthur, 28.57

3 Jessica Harach, 30.33

25-m Breaststroke

1 Jordan Badger, 37.43

2 Tess Turnbull, 45.03

25-m Butterfly

1 Jordan Badger, 29.20

25-m Backstroke

1 Jordan Badger, 25.50

2 Jessica Harach, 28.25

1. Erin McArthur, 29.14

Girls 9-10

50-m Backstroke

1 Taylor Campbell, 54.82

2 Kaitlin Byers, 1:01.46

3 Shara Kcarney, 1:10.79

50-m Breaststroke

1 Isabel Parkkari, 1:10.88

1. Kaitlin Byers, 1:10.61

2. Taylor Campbell, 1:17.81

50-m Freestyle

1 Nadia Petriw, 40.93

2 Taylor Campbell, 52.67

1. Kaitlin Byers, 53.60

50-m Butterfly

1 Isabel Parkkari, 1:04.12

100-m Backstroke

1 Nadia Petriw, 1:54.48

2 Kaitlin Byers, 2:07.98

100-m Freestyle

1 Nadia Petriw, 1:37.34

2 Taylor Campbell, 1:55.81

200-m Breaststroke

1 Nadia Petriw, 4:21.13

2 Isabel Parkkari, 4:28.12

200-m Freestyle

1 Isabel Parkkari, 3:38.60

400-m Freestyle

1 Isabel Parkkari, 7:31.69

Boys 9-10

50-m Backstroke

1 Caullen Taylor, 43.67

50-m Breaststroke

1 Craig Berube, 54.70

50-m Freestyle

1 Caullen Taylor, 36.66

50-m Butterfly

1 Caullen Taylor, 48.48

100-m Freestyle

1 Kai Sato-Franks, 1:29.10

100-m Backstroke

1 Craig Berube, 1:38.60

100-m Breaststroke

1 Caullen Taylor, 2:14.05

200-m Backstroke

1 Craig Berube, 3:41.69

200-m Freestyle

1 Kai Sato-Franks, 3:10.95

Girls 11-12

50-m Backstroke

1 Cascade Galasso, 40.12

50-m Breaststroke

1 Cascade Galasso, 43.09

50-m Freestyle

1 Alexandra Gabor, 28.09

50-m Butterfly

1 Cascade Galasso, 36.80

100-m Butterfly

1 Cascade Galasso, 1:30.00

100-m Backstroke

1 Alexandra Gabor, 1:12.20

100-m Breaststroke

1 Cascade Galasso, 1:34.03

100-m Freestyle

1 Alexandra Gabor, 1:00.69

200-m IM

1 Kirsten Berube, 3:10.85

200-m Breaststroke

1 Rebecca Leslie, 3:54.38

200-m Backstroke

1 Kirsten Berube, 3:12.33

200-m Freestyle

1 Alexandra Gabor, 2:10.73

400-m Freestyle

1 Alexandra Gabor, 4:34.30

1,500-m Freestyle

1 Alexandra Gabor, 17:38.76

Boys 11-12

50-m Backstroke

1 Thomas Chretien, 1:01.34

50-m Breaststroke

1 Mark Verhall, 54.92

50-m Freestyle

1 Mark Verhall, 36.99

50-m Butterfly

1 Mark Verhall, 46.30

100-m Freestyle

1 Mark Verhall, 1:25.98

200-m Breaststroke

1 Joshua Kelly, 3:45.53

200-m Freestyle

1 Joshua Kelly, 3:10.51

400-m Freestyle

1 Mark Verhall, 6:45.22

Mixed 12-and-under

100-m IM

1 Kate McArthur, 1:30.09

Girls 13-14

50-m Breaststroke

1 Bronwyn Pasloski, 34.87

50-m Freestyle

1 Molly Purser, 31.59

50-m Butterfly

1 Bronwyn Pasloski, 1:12.37

100-m Backstroke

1 Anne Aubin, 1:35.61

100-m Breaststroke

1 Bronwyn Pasloski, 1:15.00

100-m Freestyle

1 Bronwyn Pasloski, 1:04.39

200-m IM

1 Molly Purser, 3:00.03

200-m Breaststroke

1 Bronwyn Pasloski, 2:4 7.20

400-m Freestyle

1 Hayley Bielz, 5;36.93

800-m Freestyle

1 Bronwyn Pasloski, 9:47.20

Boys 13-14

50-m Breaststroke

1 Geoffroi Bourcier, 45.97

50-m Freestyle

1 Tanner Cassidy, 28.48

50-m Butterfly

1 Tanner Cassidy, 30.64

100-m Butterfly

1 Spencer Sumanik, 1:44.95

100-m Backstroke

1 Spencer Sumanik, 1:36.73

100-m Breastsroke

1 Brice Harding, 1:40.08

100-m Freestyle

1 Jason Zrum, 1:20.06

200-m Breaststroke

1. Geoffroi Bourcier, 3:52.00

200-m IM

1 Tanner Cassidy, 2:39.63

200-m Freestyle

1 Tanner Cassidy, 2:17.54

400-m Freestyle

1 Tanner Cassidy, 4:52.37

800-m Freestyle

1 Tanner Cassidy, 9:50.85

Women 15-and-over

50-m Backstroke

1 Ariana Edelman, 34.58

50-m Breaststroke

1 Kimberley Holmes, 41.52

50-m Freestyle

1 Erin O'Connor, 29.75

50-m Butterfly

1 Ariana Edelman, 34.79

100-m Freestyle

1 Erin O'Connor, 1:07.97

100-m Backstroke

1 Ariana Edleman, 1:15.26

100-m Breaststroke

1 Erin O'Connor, 1:23.88

200-m IM

1 Erin O'Connor, 2:39.40

200-m Breaststroke

1 Olwyn Bruce, 3:03.05

200-m Backstroke

1 Erin O'Connor, 2:37.75

200-m Freestyle

1 Annie Claude Gaudet, 2:45.81

400-m Freestyle

1 Annie Claude Gaudet, 5:47.71

800-m Freestyle

1 Erin O'Connor, 10:24.62

Men 15-and-over

50-m Backstroke

1 Alan Lebedoff, 31.03

50-m Freestyle

1 Brendan Zrum, 26.45

50-m Butterfly

1 Brendan Zrum, 28.99

100-m Freestyle

1 Brendan Zrum, 57.48

100-m Butterfly

1 Alan Lebedoff, 1:07.81

100-m Backstroke

1 Alan Lebedoff, 1:10.02

100-m Breaststroke'

1 Geoffrey Thompson, 1:21.70

200-m Breaststroke

1 Tim Arnholz, 2:51.76

200-m IM

1 Francis Aubin, 2:33.82

200-m Freestyle

1 Geoffrey Thompson, 2:12.62

400-m Freestyle

1 Brendan Zrum, 4:30.19

800-m Freestyle

1 Alan Lebedoff, 10:01.47

1,500-m Freestyle

1 Brendan Zrum, 18:34.99

The next meet for the Glacier Bears will be the Wishbone Invitational in Fairbanks, Alaska, in mid November.