Trinidad and Tobago swimmers Jaden Mills and Aaron Colthrust combined for six gold medals for McCallie School at the recently held two-day Byron Plapp Invitational Swim Meet in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, on September 12 and 13.
The 17-year-old Mills won two relay and two individual gold medals each, while Colthrust, 16, won two relay gold medals.
In the 200-yard medley relay, the 17-year-old Mills swam the final leg behind Collin Holgerson, T&T’s Aaron Colthrust and Zack-Andre Johnson as they combined for a winning time of one minute, 32.63 seconds, with Booles High School second in one minute, 39.70 seconds, and Wolf, third in one minute, 41.29 seconds.
Mills later won the 50 yards freestyle A-final in 20.58 seconds, with Bailey Koo second in 21.06, and Finn Zubero, third in 21.46, followed by Christon Joseph in 21.88, and Domenic Sotomayor and Colthrust, both in 22.17.
In the morning heats, Mills had the top time of 20.95, while Colthrust was seventh in 22.25.
Mills then secured his second individual gold with victory in the 100-yard freestyle A-final in 46.24 seconds, with Tommy Lussier second in 46.40 and Lev Fahy third in 46.63.
When the heats took place, Mills qualified as the third fastest in 47.02 with Fahy, the top qualifier, in 46.46, and Lussier, second, in 46.74.
In the 200 yards freestyle relay, Colthrust swam the lead-off leg, followed by Noah Knowles, Mills and Holgerson for a winning time of one minute, 25.82 seconds, with Bolles High School taking the second spot in one minute, 26.44 seconds, and Cree, third in one minute, 28.31 seconds.
However, in the 100-yard breaststroke A-final, Colthrust just missed a medal when he got to the wall in the fourth spot in one minute, 00.51 seconds.
Holgerson won the gold medal in 54.76 seconds, with Luke Franzmathes second in 59.59 seconds, and Lucas Rosell third in one minute, 00.30 seconds.
During the heats, Colthrust was also the fourth fastest qualifier in one minute, 00.72 behind Holgerson (57.76 seconds), Franzmathes (59.12) and Enrico Guizardi (1:00.14).
Reached for comment on his four medals at the meet, Mills said, “The meet, in my opinion, was great, as he exceeded his own personal expectations.”
He added, ‘My coach predicted times around what I did, and at first I said to myself, “There is no way I’ll go these times,” but I ended up going faster.’
Looking ahead, Mills said, “It puts me in a great spot. I’m excited for the Youth Olympics Games, which will be held in Dakar, Senegal.”
“But my main focus is the Winter Junior Championships, which will be held in Indiana in early December,” he ended.
Earlier this year, both T&T swimmers helped McCallie School to a second-place finish at the 2026 TISCA Tennessee High School State Championships as they tallied 301 points.
In the 200-yard medley relay, Holgerson, Colthrust, Johnson and Mills combined to win gold in one minute, 28.56 seconds, meeting the AA Automatic qualifying standard. While in the 200-yard freestyle relay, McCallie got silver in one minute, 21.31 seconds.
Individually, Mills was fourth in the 100-yard freestyle final in 45.42 seconds, as well as the 50-yard freestyle final in 20.65, while Colthrust was seventh in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.00 and also placed seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke final in 57.58.
