A sensational performance by the Bermuda 4x100m freestyle relay team saw them qualify for the Commonwealth Games, during the National Swimming Championships.

Three of the four members shattered personal bests as they beat the qualifying time by nearly two seconds.

And the performance was all the more dramatic because it was the last chance they had to beat the time.

Stephen Fahy, 16, Trevor Ferguson, 17, Geri Mewett, 19, and Stanley Harris, 21, were under immense pressure to qualify for Victoria.

National coach Gareth Davis said: "They had rested and shaved for the race, but they knew what kind of pressure they were under to do this. If they were going to do it I thought it would be by a couple of tenths of a second.'' Competing against them were a team of visiting swimmers: Robert Braknis of Canada, Chris Plaisted of Florida, Ricky Busquet of Puerto Rico and Eric Schlichenmier of Florida.

Fahy started with a time of 53.53 smashing his best-ever time of 55.19.

Ferguson followed with 55.05, one second better than his fastest time. Mewett put in the quickest leg, 51.97, quicker than the world-ranked Busquet. But it was anchorman Harris who shaved an all-important two seconds off his best time, clocking 53.64.

The total time was 3:34.19, well under the 3:36.04 qualifying time for the Victoria games.

An ecstatic Davis said: "I am delighted. They have been totally committed to this and they have succeeded. They have put in a lot of extra hours training.

They have done everything that has been asked of them.'' Fahy, the youngest member of the team, said: "I have been swimming since I was 10, but I needed to do a lot more training than usual. It was worth it.

"I was pretty sure we could do it but there was always some doubt. It is the quickest I have ever gone.'' Mewett and Harris had already been submitted for qualification for individual events in the Commonwealth Games, along with Chris Flook and Jenny Smatt.

Davis realises the tough competition his team now faces in Victoria but is confident they will make Bermuda proud.

During the weekend Craig Roberts failed to make the qualification time of 1:06.90 in the 100m breaststroke.

The qualification attempts were the high point of an excellent national championships with seven all-comers records and two national records tumbling.

Harris, added to his excellent weekend by breaking the two national records.

First he broke Fahy's 400m individual medley time by nearly three seconds coming second to Canadian Vaughan Thompson. Harris's time of 4:57.43 made him the first Bermudian to go below five minutes.

In the 200m backstroke Harris, trailing Canadian Robert Braknis, again took almost two seconds off the national record with a time of 2:15.40. Braknis' time of 2:03.80 was almost 10 seconds less than the all-comers record.

Braknis, who will represent Canada in Victoria, broke another two all-comers records in backstroke events.

His compatriot Lisa Flood, ranked seventh in the world in the 100m breaststroke, broke the all-comers record in that event and in the 50m breaststroke.

Records also fell to Canadian Vaughan Thompson in the 200m individual medley and Katie Ryan, of Florida, in the 200m backstroke.

Also during the weekend Nuri Latham and Jonathan Ward set great times to qualify for the Caribbean Championships, which will be held in Jamaica in July.

Flook, Alicia Mullan, Tamika Williams and Jessica Sousa all won to prevent a total overseas dominance of the events at Saltus pool.

And Flook and Smatt, in particular, made the top-quality visitors work hard for their victories.

Photo: Tony Cordeiro.

MADE IT! -- Bermuda's relay team of Trevor Ferguson, Stephen Fahy, Geri Mewett and Stanley Harris converted their last chance to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.