Nicholas Bovell's backstroke record stood for ten years until Dylan Carter broke it on Saturday evening at the Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago's (ASATT) Invitational swim meeting.

The four-day international meet ended last night place at Marlins pool in Westmoorings. The meet attracted swimmers from Barbados, Grenada, Venezuela and hosts Trinidad and Tobago, who had the biggest contingent consisting of national and club swimmers.

Olympian Nicholas Bovell, younger brother of 2004 Athens Olympic 200-metre individual medley bronze medallist George Bovell 111, had set the 13-14 200m backstroke record of 2:10.70 in 2001 and it stood until Carter convincingly shattered it with a 2:10:36 clocking.

Carter also excelled later on Saturday night, winning the 13-14 200m freestyle gold in 1:57.19 and the 100m butterfly in 58.41 seconds.

Also among the record-breakers was Tyla Martin, who broke Ayeisha Collymore's long-standing record in the 13-14 girls long course 400 metres individial medley.

Martin swam the distance in 5:13.69, convincingly bettering Collymore's 2001 effort of 5:21.47.

She also received a silver medal for her performance in the 200m freestyle event, finishing in a time of 2:10.96.

This was Martin's second consecutive year for breaking records. At last year's Invitational she set a new national record of 1:07.46 in the girls 11-12 100m butterfly.

Swimmers from Barbados broke records as well. Luis-Sebastien Weekes, swimming for Pirates, registered a new record in a time of 32.94 on the first day of the meet in the 9-10 boys 50m butterfly event, as well as in the 200m butterfly event, where he bettered compatriot Damon St Prix's previous time of 2:46.83, bringing it down to 2:44.11.

Barbadian teammate Jack Kirby broke his national record in the Boys 9-10 100m freestyle when he clocked 1:05.44, replacing his countryman Nicholas Mayers' time of 1:06.23 recorded in 1994.

There were many other gold and silver medal performances for Trinidad and Tobago swimmers on Saturday's third day of competition.

Shania David of Tidal Wave Aquatics (TWA) and Sajni Maharaj of Stingray received gold and silver, respectively, in the girls 11-12 400m individual medley.

David's teammate Gwillym Watkins added to his cache by bagging gold in 5:37.04 in the boys 11-12 400m individual medley, with Aaron Acres of Titans getting silver with a time of 5:51.58, followed by Grenada's Kerry Ollivierre in 6:19.92.

This event also saw noteworthy performances from Jabari Baptiste of Marlins, who won gold in the 13-14 age group ahead of two swimmers from Venezuela.

The sprints and individual events were followed by the relay events which saw the local clubs dominate.

In the points standings, Marlins Swim Club remained on top, followed by Titans and Tidal Wave Aquatics.

Swimmers from Blue Dolphins, UTT, UWI and Venezuela's Emile Friedman also earned points for their teams in the relays.

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com