after a successful trip to the Waterloo Invitational Meet at the weekend.

The swimmers barely needed an airplane to take them home -- they were flying high after capturing 15 individual and four relay medals, including seven gold medals following three days of competition in Canada.

"This was the most successful trip by far we've ever had in Waterloo,'' understated an elated Gareth Davies yesterday. The national team coach said that swimmers wore their medals home on the flight from Toronto to Bermuda.

In addition to the impressive medal haul, 13 swimmers qualified for the Caribbean Championships, scheduled to take place in Jamaica in July.

Leading the medal charge was William Massey, who captured two golds in the 50 metres freestyle and 100 butterfly, while other golds were won by Stephen Fahy in the 50 freestyle, Michael Pantry in the 100 butterfly and Chris Flook in the 100 breaststroke.

Boys in the 13-and-14 age category picked up gold medals in the freestyle and medley relays.

Silver medals were won by Trevor Ferguson (50 freestyle), Craig Ferguson (200 individual medley), Nicholas Van de Weg (100 freestyle), Matthew Hammond (200 freestyle) and Trevor Nelson (100 breaststroke). The 11 and 12-year-old boys took silver medals in the freestyle and medley relays.

Wearing their bronze medals yesterday were Fahy (100 breaststroke, 100 butterfly), Nelson (200 breaststroke, 50 freestyle) and Massey (100 freestyle).

Flook's gold medal performance in the 100 metre breaststroke with a time of one minute, 7.34 seconds was the second time he has gone under the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard.

Earning tickets to Jamaica in the 15-and-over age group were Fahy, Trevor Ferguson and Tamika Williams. Qualifying in the 13-and-14 division were Craig Ferguson, Van de Weg, Hammond, Massey, Nelson, Stephen Troake and Zoe Roberts while Pantry, Paul Fox and Chris King made the squad among 11 and 12 year-olds.

While praising each member of the group travelling overseas, Davies held out special praise for silver medallist Craig Ferguson, who "swam a lot and fast'' and qualified in six disciplines for the Caribbean championships. "He came through the experience extremely well.'' Davies added: "We were pleasantly surprised and this is very encouraging. The way we performed was not something we anticipated. What we look for now is to see how everyone does in the next two spring meets and then the National Championships.'' CHRIS FLOOK -- 100m breaststroke gold.