Marlins' Luke Gillette erased an Eight-and-Under, 30-year-old record on the second night of competition at the annual Invitational Swim Meet hosted by the Amateur Swimming Association of T&T (ASATT) at the Marlins Swim Pool, Morne Coco Road, Westmoorings on Friday night. Gillette touched the world first in the 100m freestyle in a time of 1:12.15 to better the old record of Laurens Albada 1:12.24 held since 1980. The budding swim star scored gold again-this time in the 50m butterfly in a time of 36.73. Gillette was one of six double gold medallists on the night. Tidal Wave Aquatics Eight-and-Under swimmer, Vrisnelit Faure also won double gold. Her first victory came in the 100m freestyle in 1:16.00 which was followed with a win in the 50m butterfly in 36.60. Faure's team-mate, Caribbean Islands Swimming Championship gold medallist Syriah David, won gold in the 100m freestyle (1:03.51) and 200m breaststroke (3:05.96). Marlins' Jabari Baptiste won both the 100m freestyle (56.44) and 50m butterfly (29.03), while his clubmate Joshua Romany scored wins in the 13-14 version of 100m freestyle (52.40) and 50m butterfly (26.39).
England-based Christian Homer added to Marlins list of double winners on the night as he too had success in the 100m freestyle (54.07) and 50m butterfly (26.19). Other medallists in the 100m freestyle were Hannah Gill of Pirates Barbados, James Gillette of Marlins, Kristin Julien of Tsunami and Siona Huxley of Sharks St Lucia. Jessica Stephenson and Jonathan Gillette of Marlins, Rejan Chin of Blue Dolphins, Michael Grauwde of De Dolfjin Suriname and Napoleon Howell made it to the top of the podium in the 200m breaststroke. The 50m butterfly saw Amira Pilgrim of Tsunami, Kael Yorke of Tidal Wave, Brienne Renfurm of De Dolfjin Suriname, Bryanna Duncan of Sea Hawks and Samantha Rahael of Marlins being victorious. Marlins Swim Club was the most dominant team in the 400m freestyle relay events winning four out of the five relays they entered. The host club was victorious in the 11-12, 13-14 and 15-and-Over boys' as well as the 15-and-Over girls' relays. Centre of Excellence Sea Hawks won the 13-14 girls' relay over the four team field, while Tidal Wave Aquatics was the sole entry in the 11-12 category and won gold.
After two days of competition, Marlins were at the top of the team standings, followed by Tidal Wave Aquatics and Centre of Excellence Sea Hawks. The meet continued last night while it ends today at 5 pm.