Emma Harvey smashed her own national record in the girls’ 11-12 200 metres butterfly in a time of 2min 37.22sec in the Best of Best Series I meet at Saltus Grammar School at the weekend.

Harvey, who was the only swimmer competing in the race, demolished her previous record by 9.43 seconds, to earn praise from Shona Palmer, her coach at Harbour Amateur Swim Club.

“Emma was swimming the event this year only for the second time and all the coaches are pleased with the level of improvement,” Palmer said. “We are also extremely confident there is a lot more improvement to come from her.”

There were 116 personal-best times set by swimmers from Harbour Amateur Swim Club.

The meet was the final qualifier for this year’s Carifta Swimming Championships in Aruba, with Aaron Rego and Jessie Thomas coming within one tenth of a second from hitting their second qualifying time for the competition.

“We were very happy with the overall results for this meet,” Ben Smith, the Bermuda and Sharks head coach, said. “Most swimmers were able to reach near personal best, if not exceed personal-best times, which is a good indicator that the training through the winter has been successful.

“This meet, being the last qualifier for Carifta, meant that there was added pressure and tension in the pool, which saw fast swims but no added qualifiers.”

At the Development Meet, also held at Saltus at the weekend, Casey Morris achieved her B time in the 100 metres breaststroke, which will allow her to compete in Best of the Best Series II.

Results, page 22