Primary schoolgirl Ashley Yearwood grabbed the limelight as a team of nine swimmers from Harbour Club travelled to Canada over the weekend to compete in the 18th annual Dr. Ralph Hicken Invitational meet.

Swimming in the 10 and under age group, Yearwood brought home a medal of each colour as she competed against some of the top clubs in Ontario at the Mississauga Aquatic Club at the Etobicoke Olympium.

In the 100 metres butterfly, the youngster placed first with a superb swim of 1:26.36, setting a new age group record in the bargain.

Her 100 metres freestyle time of 1:13.54 earned a silver medal and another age group record, and she then rounded out her medal haul with a bronze in the 50 metres freestyle with a time of 33.60.

All of Yearwood?s times were new personal bests as she showed a dramatic improvement in each event.

She also elected to swim the 400 metres freestyle in the 11-12 age group as no event of that distance was offered in her own age group. And her gutsy performance earned her another age group record with a time of 5:49.14.

Meanwhile, Kaitlyn Miller, Lara Loescher, Nicole Yearwood and Eleanor Gardner teamed up to smash national and age group records in both the 13-14 year-old 4x50 metres freestyle and medley relays.

The quartet?s time of 1:59.51 eclipsed the former freestyle record of 2:00.93 set just last month at the Carifta Championships in Curacao and placed them a creditable fourth.

In the medley relay the same foursome set a new record of 2:17.59, bettering their entry time by over four seconds as they finished in fifth place.

In the individual events in that age group, Gardner lowered her own 800 metres freestyle age group record, shaving a massive 12 seconds off her previous mark with an excellent time of 10:09.07.

Team-mate Miller then broke Gardner?s 400 metres freestyle record by the slimmest possible margin of one hundredth of a second with a swim of 4:57.80.

Rounding out the 13 and 14 age group performances was a bronze medal won by Loescher in the 50 metres freestyle in a time of 28.86. Her effort clipped almost six tenths of a second off her previous best time.

In the 100 metres freestyle she placed sixth in 1:03.84.

Entries in those events were heavily subscribed with 78 and 73 competitors respectively.

Other Harbour swimmers attending the meet were Denzel Wellman (13 and 14 age group), Vaughan Barritt, Margaux Koren and Alyssa Gauk (11 and 12 age group), who between them set several personal bests.

The Hicken meet is regarded as a high quality age group event, which regularly attracts the top swimmers in Ontario.