North Hall junior Paul Powers broke a pair of state records last Saturday at the Pilot Aquatic Invitational at the University of Tennessee as part of Gainesville’s Splash Aquatic Club.

Powers, 16, set a new Georgia USA Swimming state record for 15 and 16-year-olds in the 50-meter freestyle event with a time of 20.23 seconds. The time also breaks the 17-18-year-old class record of 20.24 and is seventh on USA Swimming’s top-100 best 16-year-old times ever in the 50 free, and has the nation’s No. 1 time this season in his age group.

Powers has another No. 1 time in the 100-meter freestyle at 43.99 seconds, which is another Georgia USA Swimming state record and is third fastest on USA Swimming’s list of the top-100 times ever for 16-year-olds in the 100 freestyle. His time of 43.99 is faster than both Michael Phelps and Nathan Adrian’s times at 16.

Swim season in the area officially begins next week.