It has been a year of history making for the Whitehorse Glacier Bears, as three young athletes broke out of the territory and made their mark on the world of swimming.

2009 marked the first time a Bear athlete had won a senior national championship with Alexandra Gabor's gold in the 200-metre freestyle at the Canada Cup, and the first time a Yukoner had won a medal in swimming with her bronze at the Canada Summer Games, then the first time a Yukoner had won a gold at the Canada Summer Games, again by Gabor.

It was quite the year, and although 2009 is coming to an end, the Glacier Bears aren't ready to slow down just yet as they near the halfway point to their season.

"I can not even ask for better,” said Glacier Bears coach Marek Poplawski, on how the year has been.

Poplawski said one of the best things about this year has been the representation at different age groups, that saw many swimmers from newer ones to seniors making waves at meets all over.

His favourite meet of the year was the championships held in Gaum, which he described as "fantastic,” where the Bears had successful swims.

But it was just one of many great things that happened this year, with Gabor becoming a carded athlete, and Bronwyn Pasloski swimming to bronze at the Canada Cup, and just recently Haley Braga being invited to join the B.C. swim team after her incredible performance at the Christmas Cracker meet in Victoria. It was the perfect end to a busy year.

"All together, it was fantastic,” Poplawski said.

He said his younger swimmers did extremely well all year, and the medals and achievements just kept coming.

"It was just endless,” he said.

The season is just getting underway, but the Bears have been all over the place, from Gabor heading to Europe for two World Cup dates in Sweden and Germany, to her and Pasloski's performance at the Canada Cup in Toronto, and Pasloski's swim in Portland, Oregon and Braga's big meet in Victoria.

"We just started this season and already we have results,” Poplawski said.

The medals have been for all age groups under Poplawski's coaching.

Gabor had a huge year, and it isn't slowing down.

"I'm pretty satisfied with how this year's been, obviously there were ups and downs but it was nice to see that all the hard work was starting to pay off,” she said.

Of all her achievements this year, Gabor said her highlight was attending the World Championships held in Rome in July.

"Going to Rome had been my goal for over a year and I knew that if I kept that goal in mind all season and really worked hard, I could achieve it,” Gabor said. "It was a long and hard process, but it all worked out in the end.”

Gabor's incredible turnout at almost every meet she has attended in the last year shows how hard she has worked to get to where she is.

Her performance so far in the 2009/2010 season is just the start of things, as she looks forward.

"For this upcoming year, my main goal is to qualify for the Pan Pacific Championships which will be held in Irvine, California in August,” she said. "The trials are in late March, and my main focus right now is to get the solid training that I need to swim fast there.”

Performing well there would land Gabor with a spot at the Commonwealth Games in October.

"I need to keep these goals in mind while I'm training, since up here in Whitehorse it's easy to feel secluded from the rest of the country and forget how hard they're working,” she said.