Visiting swimmers make huge splash
Championships, setting a slew of new all-comers records during the three-day meet over the weekend.
But there were also a number of encouraging performances from locals, particularly Trevor Ferguson who notched three triple A times, booking his ticket to this summer's CCCAN Championships in Mexico.
Canadian Nancy Sweetnam, a Commonwealth Games medallist last year, finished on Sunday night just as she had begun on Friday -- with another record and the trophy for the high points female.
Sweetnam's last mark came in the 200 metres individual medley in which she clocked 2:18.88 to shave four seconds off the record set by Katie Ryan of the visiting Brevard Swim Club in 1992. Brevard's Kerwin Deese won Sunday's men's 200 IM in 2:19.18.
Todd Pace, a Texan who has been ranked among the top ten in the world in the 50 metres freestyle and is a member of the US national team, was equally as impressive as Sweetnam over the weekend.
And he too finished in style, beating his own all-comers' record on Sunday night with a 50m free time of 22.74.
The third all-comers' record to fall on Sunday went to 13-year-old American Cassidy Maxwell who clocked 27.30 in the women's 50m free, eclipsing the mark set by Jennifer Green (27.62) in 1991.
While Pace also had three first place finishes on Saturday, it was Kris Fisher, a member of Canada's national team, who took the high points trophy.
Included in Fisher's wins were the 200m backstroke in 2:10.68 and the 50m breaststroke in 32.33, but in a nailbiting 100m freestyle he was pipped by four hundredths of a second by Pace (52.54).
Ferguson, in Bermuda's Commonwealth Games swim squad last summer, rounded out a highly successful weekend with a first place in the 200m freestyle on Sunday evening, clocking a triple A time of 1:59.47.
Earlier the 18-year-old Bermudian had set triple A times of 54.93 in the heats of the 100m free and 4:10.95 in the 400m free.
Locals Matthew Hammond and Ronald Cowen also set triple A times of 4:30.45 and 4:32.38 respectively in the 400m free.
In the same event for women, Brevard's Maxwell set a new all-comers' time of 4:29.31, beating the previous best of 4:29.64 set by Alison Harvey back in 1988. Maxwell also won the 100m breaststroke in 1:14.38.
Bermuda's Stanley Harris, another member of last summer's Commonwealth Games team, broke his own national record in the 200m backstroke with a personal best of 2:14.88. But he finished behind Fisher who clocked 2:10.68.
Other notable performances on Saturday included those of Stephen Troake (57.75, 100m free), Paul Fox (1:02.06, 100m free), Elisha Miller (1:05.11, 100m free) and Craig Ferguson (1:11.93, 100m breaststroke).