They may have been the only team to participate in the competition, but the Whitehorse Northern Novas synchronized swim team still managed to impress and surprise their own coach with their performances at the event.

Aura-Lea Harper said the members of the synchronized swim team did well at this year's Yukon Championships, which were held on Sunday at the Canada Games Center's Whitehorse Lions Aquatic Centre.

"I am very pleased with how they did. It shows me where they stand and that's why I think they are going to do really well at their next meet," Harper said. "It was all synchronized, they were worried it wasn't going to be synchronized, but it was great. They have improved a lot since last year."

This was the team's first competition of the year, which usually features a team from Juneau, Alaska as well.

The Northern Novas are the only synchronized swim club in the Yukon. Their season begins in September and the girls normally do intense training sessions, which cover the basics in the sport until February when the group begins working on their routines.

However, this year the group began working on their team, solo and two duet routines in December in preparation for a Calgary meet that was held earlier in February.

Unfortunately, cold weather ended up delaying their flight into Calgary and the team was not able to take part in the competition.

The Northern Novas have a total of five swimmers on the team The team practices twice during the week for two and a half hours, and once again on Sunday for two hours. The oldest member on the team is 15, while the youngest is 12 years old.

This is the second year the group has been together and already they are showing signs of progress, with the girls wanting to branch out and attempt new events. Last year, the team only had one duet, but this time around there are two duets and a soloist. At the moment, both the solo and two duet routines are finished, but the group is still perfecting their team performance.

The group currently competes in the sport's tier-two division, but Harper hopes to move them up to tier-three before the end of the season, which concludes in June.

"That is the ultimate goal for the end of the year," she said. "I think they would like to get first this year because they haven't yet, so to conquer tier-two they need to get first, so that is what we are going for."

Another goal of Harper's is to have the group competing in tier-seven in the next couple of years. Being at tier-seven would allow the girls to be eligible to compete at the Canada Games in the sport.

She said with the current ages of the team's members it will be possible to achieve this goal.

"There is an age category, but every year it changes, so it is kind of wait and see, but all of them are in the perfect kind of age that they won't be too old or too young," she said.

Last year the oldest age for the open category was 18.

Harper said although they were the only team competing on Sunday, there were still a lot of advantages to taking part in the event.

"They actually did get judged, so that was one. Plus, they got to know their marks on what should be coming up in the near future for their meets and what we need to work on," she said. "That is important because they need to know where they stand before we go to any meets and that is why I wanted them to go to the Calgary one, so that they would be able to know where they stood for the rest of their meets."

The judging criteria in the sport ranges from a score of 1-10 and swimmers are evaluated in two main areas: technical and artistic. The technical mark involves movements and the overall execution of the routine, while the artistic score is based on things such as appearances and facial expression.

The team's next big meet is the B.C. Sectional and it will be held in Surrey on April 11. Harper is confident, based on how the season is going so far, about the team being able to achieve a podium finish at the event.

She said they will prepare for the event by continuing to go over their routines.

Taylor Hanna has been a member of the Northern Novas for three years now. Hanna became interested in synchronized swimming after watching it on TV at the Olympics. This is her fourth year being involved with the sport.

Hanna, who is in one of the duets on the team, said she enjoys everything about the sport.

"It's really challenging and fun and it is a great group of girls," she said.

She said the highest award she has won was her sixth place finish last year in the figures event at MASY, which is a competition that involves Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Yukon.

What made it so special was the fact that Hanna was competing against over a hundred synchronized swimmers and she said that being ranked that high was a nice surprise.

At the Yukon Championships, Hanna finished first in the figures category, but said that a first in any duet competition would top that.

"I would be really excited if our duet got first," she said.

Figures is a solo event where swimmers display their own routine and skills to the judges.

Hanna has been in the same duet for three years and is good friends with her partner, Simone Kitchen.

"I really enjoy the duet. I like the team too, but the duet you really connect with the person," she said. "Sometimes you will be practicing without the music and you just get it right on, like you know what the other person is doing."

Hanna said the team is doing really well this season and is confident about being able to get on the podium for the next meet in April.