Bermuda's master swimmers started their preparations for the new season at the Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association's (BASA) first meet of the year.

The 16 masters are currently preparing for the FINA World Masters in Sweden and the USMS Summer Nationals in Puerto Rico.

Ben Smith, one of Bermuda's national swim coaches, was delighted with the swims produced at the time trial meet.

He said: "All swimmers were enthusiastic and it was good to have the mix of masters entrants with some of our best age group swimmers.

"Many of the swimmers were able to achieve personal best times and some were able to achieve qualifying standards."

In particular, Kellan Desilva was a standout at the meet as he dipped under 25 seconds in the 50 metre free and 55 seconds in the 100m free.

In both events he was within a tenth of a second of qualifying for the Caribbean Island Swimming Championships being held in Cuba this summer.

Michelle Caza and Somer Froud were able to make one of the two qualifying times required for the Carifta Swimming Championships held in Jamaica in April, while Mitchell Gariépy also swam two strong races and achieved an AA and AAA standard time.

Richard Goodwin, also a national swim coach, said the meet boded well for the swimmers as they work towards summer competitions.

"I thought the time trial meet was excellent and showed a very high standard from our swimmers at an early stage in the season," said Goodwin.

"We had ten swimmers entered in 14 events, and 11 of these swims were personal bests."

The next local meet will be held at the BASA pool on February 20.