The Ryan Downing Memorial Swim Meet took place at the Canada Games Centre over the weekend. The meet had 116 swimmers, aged 7-17, from the Yukon and Haines Junction, competing in a variety of swimming events.

The meet focused on the swimmers’ personal best times, award ribbons were given for every personal best time swam. Over the weekend five Meet records were broken, all in the boys 15-17 age category.

The first record broken was by Alex Petriw in the 800-metre freestyle, finishing in a time of 9:21:27. Aidan Harvey broke the other four meet records; the first was in the 50-metre backstroke, finishing in a time of 29.88. Next was the 100-metre backstroke in a time of 1:03.95, the 200-metre freestyle (2:06.83) and the 400-metre individual medley (5:09.17).

Malwina Bukszowana, head coach of the Whitehorse Glacier Bears, was pleased with the clubs overall performances, as the swimmers finished with very fast times.

“According to the results the kids did very well,” said Bukszowana. “You can also see it in the kids performance and technique, while they are in the pool. We had a good number of kids with fast enough times to qualify for the B.C. Championships. The club had far more kids qualify for the Championships than last year.”

The meet also had visiting referee, Nancy Telford from Penticton, come down to the meet to teach officiating courses and mentor two swimming parents working towards their referee certification.

“It’s big that she could come down and teach and help at the meet,” said Bukzowana. “We don’t have a lot of referees up here.”

According to an email from Lisa Harvey, meet manager, the Whitehorse Glacier Bear swim competitions and events are a true community partnership.

“The pool staff were a great help for set up, clean up, and of course ensuring the safety of the pool,” said Harvey. “We also had more than 150 parent volunteer positions filled over the day and a half meet.”

“The parents are everything,” said Bukzowana.