Swimming powerhouses, Immaculate Conception High and Wolmer’s Boys’ finished tops at the two-day Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ) High/Tertiary Institutions Swimming Championships at National Aquatic Centre on Saturday.

The championship, which was introduced three years ago to accommodate more high school competition alongside the perennial ISSA meet, lived up to the hype and expectations with its heats and finals format.

While Immaculate Conception were runaway winners with a tally of 603 points to dethrone Campion College (287), the boys’ side of action proved even more entertaining, as Wolmer’s amassed 449 points to better Campion College who were a mere 27 points off, at 422.50 points.

St Andrews High School For Girls (220), Wolmer’s Girls’ (83) and Montego Bay High with 77 points finished behind the top two on the girls’ side, while Kingston College (202.50), Jamaica College (141) and Hillel Academy High School (53) completed the boys’ top five.

On the tertiary side, The University of the West Indies (UWI) tallied 268 points to better Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) on 117 points, and G C Foster College with 45 points.

After Friday’s gruelling opening day of competition where 35 individual records and 12 relay records tumbled during the heats, the swimmers returned on Saturday to up the ante with another series of breathtaking performances.

And, as expected, the podium spots were dominated by swimmers seeking to make Jamaica’s team to the Carifta Swimming Championships over the Easter weekend.

Immaculate Conception threw down the gauntlet from the opening event, as Karci Gibson (2:21.49) and Kokolo Foster (2:22.86) ended second and third, respectively, behind Britney Williams of Wolmer’s who won in a record 2:10.92 in the Open 200-metre freestyle.

Williams, who was in top form on the day, lowered the previous mark of 2:14.95 for that event, before going on to rewrite the records for the girls’ 17 and over 50m backstroke, as well as the 50m and 100m freestyle events.

Christanya Shirley had a splendid day in the girls’ 12 and under age group for Immaculate, winning her four individual events — 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke — the latter won in a meet record.

While all her swims were outstanding, Shirley’s true class was shown in the 50m butterfly, during which she repelled a stiff challenge from Campion College’s Rebekah King to win in 31.94 seconds. King was just out-touched at 32.11.

The girls’ 13-14 age group also belonged to Immaculate Conception courtesy of the ever-reliable Zaneta Alvaranga, who won three of her four individual events in record time.

Alvaranga had records in the 50m and 100m freestyle, as well as the 50m and 100m butterfly, before joining forces with Safiya Officer, Kokolo Foster and Ireland Hunter to register a relay record.

Amore Hunter ensured more of Immaculate’s dominance in the girls’ 15-16 age group with victories in the 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle, and second-place finishes in the 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly.

Meanwhile, the ever-composed Kyle Sinclair led the way for Wolmer’s Boys’ with an opening victory in the Open 200m freestyle. Sinclair won in 2:02.51 ahead of teammate Zachary Randle (2:05.85), with Daniel Mair (2:08.85) of Campion in third.

Sinclair followed that performance with victories in the boys’ 15-16 50m and 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke, to end with a slew of records at the meet.