Fifteen swimmers from the Whitehorse Glacier Bears spent the weekend in Victoria at the Christmas Cracker swim meet, and many managed a trip to the finals and personal best times.

"Everybody had some best times,” said Marek Poplawski, coach of the Whitehorse Glacier Bears.

Many swimmers made it through the preliminary races and on to the final rounds at the meet held in Victoria.

Poplawski said many of the swimmers managed to participate in more than one final.

The meet was full of Christmas cheer, with participants given Christmas crackers and candy in between races. Almost 700 swimmers were at the meet from B.C. and Alberta.

"It was a very, very nice meet,” said Poplawski.

The meet was a combination of different age groups, so swimmers of all ages made the trip from Whitehorse.

Glacier Bear Haley Braga had an excellent weekend competing in the 12 and under group. Braga won a bronze in the 100 metre freestyle as well as placing fifth in the 200 m fly, sixth in the 200 m, 400 m and 800 m freestyles, eighth in the 50 m fly and 100 m back, ninth in the 100 m fly and 12th in the 200 m individual medley and the 50 m free.

Also in the under 12 category was Erin McArthur, who took sixth place in the 50 and 100 m breastroke, seventh in the 200 m breast, 10th in the 100 m free, 11th in the 100 m back, 13th in the 50 m free and 16th in the 200 m free.

Nadia Petriw ended up in the final round for the girls 13/14 50 m freestyle, finishing in eighth place overall. She also came in 13th in the 100 m free and 14th in the 400 m free.

Taylor Campbell, also in the 13/14 girls division placed 10th in the 800 m freestyle, 11th in the 100 m free and 15th in the 200 m free.

Alexandra Gabor took home gold and broke a meet records in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 m freestyles. She also won gold in the 100 m butterfly and a silver in the 50 m fly and the 50 free.

Not to be outdone, Joshua Kelly swam his way into the finals of the 50 and 200 m breastroke and finished in eighth place. He also came in 12th in the 100 m breast and 50 m breast.

Poplawski said the athletes that came with him did very well.

"I think they improved,” he said. The bears recorded 85 personal best times at the Christmas Cracker meet.

Also at the meet in Victoria were Jessica Bakica, Nicole Wawryk, Kate McArthur, Kirsten Berube, Hayley Bielz, Julia Fedoriak, Tynan Leong-Best and Felix Bouchard. All did well at the meet and achieved personal bests for themselves.

This weekend was Bronwyn Pasloski was in Portland Oregon swimming with Team B.C. for the Paul Bergen Jr. Championships. She managed to pull off a rare tie for second place with Tianna Rossling from Alberta in the 100 metre breaststroke.

The two swimmers both finished the race at exactly 1:08.83. They were off the first place spot by just tenths of a second, with Canadian Ashley McGregor topping off the race at 1:08.14. Both times set a meet record.

Pasloski came home with two silver medals, the other from her second place finish in the 200 m breastroke. She also finished fifth in the 200 m individual medley, sixth in the 50 m breast, eighth in the 400 m individual medley and 14th in the 100 m freestyle. She acheived a new Glacier Bears record for her performance in the 400 m individual medley.