Bermudian swimmers gave their best at the National Championships but none were able to join Ronald Cowen and Kiera Aitken in qualifying for the upcoming World Championships and Pan-Am Games.

Roy-Allan Burch came agonisingly close in the 50-metre freestyle in which he finished second and just fractions of a second short of making the Worlds' requirements for Barcelona.

His valiant effort was spurred by intense competition from Cris Stewart of Dalhousie and Alex Lopez of University of Florida.

The three-day meet at the Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association (BASA) Pool on the weekend, however, showcased some record-breaking swims by local competitors and was enhanced by the participation of 11 foreign swimmers from Brevard Swim Club (Florida), University of Florida, Dalhousie University (Canada) and Fort Worth Swim Club in Texas.

Graham Smith earned a national record in the 400-metre individual medley (IM), placing second to Lopez in a tremendous battle which saw the two going stroke-for-stroke from start to finish.

Smith also swam extremely well in the 100-metre backstroke, finishing second to Ryan Lochte of University of Florida, who shattered the Bermuda allcomers record in this event by several seconds.

Darren Woods, in the 100-metre butterfly (won by Lopez - a member of the Puerto Rican national team), and Trevor Johnstone, in a fast 200-metre freestyle event which saw Ryan Lochte shatter his second allcomers record, were the other Bermudian males to perform well.

Age-group record-breaking times were swum by juniors Rebecca Sharpe and Kaitlyn Miller in the 50-metre backstroke and 200-metre IM respectively. Miller, just 12-years old, claimed a bronze in that medley race.

There were also outstanding swims from the older girls, notably Kiera and Ashley Aitken and Anastasia Lau.

However, Amanda Blevins from Fort Worth proved the queen of the pool and showed her class by taking the overall women's title for the meet.

Ryan Lochte was the top male swimmer and his is a name to watch as he continues his quest towards representing the USA in the Olympics.

The 12-and-under swimmers will have the opportunity to shine in the junior National Championships this weekend at the BASA Pool.