The Amateur Swimming Association of Jamaica's inaugural Walter Rodgers Age Group Championships got off to a good start on Thursday, with five records broken on the opening day at the National Stadium Pool.

Approximately 503 swimmers from 10 clubs, including the Stingray Swim Club from the Cayman Islands, are participating during the four-day event, which will also serve as the final qualifier for local swimmers who wish to be a part of Jamaica's delegation to the 2009 CARIFTA Swimming Cham-pionships, scheduled for Aruba from April 14-20.

Jamaica's junior squad member, Danielle Boothe, swimming for the Stingray Swim Club, accounted for two of the five records broken.

Boothe's first record

Boothe's first record came in the 11-12 girls 50m butterfly, in a time of 31.15 seconds, to erase the previous mark of 31.78. She later returned a time of 2:37.49 seconds to set a new record in the 11-12 girls 200m individual medley.

Senior national swimmers Kendese Nangle and Dominic Walter set new records in the 13-14 girls 50m butterfly and the 15 and over boys 1500m freestyle events, respectively.

Nangle clocked 30.88 seconds to erase the previous time of 32.04 seconds, while Walters' time of 17:04.90 lowered the previous mark of 17:16.60.

The fifth record came from Coral Tomascik of Stingrays in the 11-12 girls 800m freestyle event in a time of 11:31.00, much faster than the previous record of 12:48.01.

National swim coach, Jackie Walter, is anticipating that all the competitors will do well in order to qualify for the Carifta Games.

"I hope that we will get some fast swimmers as this is their last chance to qualify. I'm expecting good results and Danielle Boothe is really one swimmer we should look at," Walter said.

Defending champions Tornadoes Swim Club led after the first day with 215 points, followed by Stingrays 86 and the Y-Speedos 85.

The competition will continue today at 4:30 p.m. and ends tomorrow. Tomorrow's action begins at 9 a.m.