Malta Swim Team takes third place at home swim meet; Second in relay event

The Malta Swim Team fared well in Eastern Federation Swim Meet, which they hosted, finishing third among teams present at the event. The team took second in relay events.

Chinook swam hard taking first place in the event. Glasgow took second at the meet.

As the event reached the end of day one, the PCN caught up with a few of the swimmers from the Malta Swim Team including 12 year-old Carly Garfield, who won three events in the junior class in the team's first meet in Shelby.

"I swam in the 50 free, 100 free and the 50 back," Garfield said. "I won all three of those last week.

Garfield took second in the 50 back and third in both freestyle races.

Though Garfield is a confident swimmer she admitted that she struggled that day.

"I didn't do as well as I did last time," Garfield said. "But I feel like I did pretty good."

Garfield has no idea what makes her so solid in both freestyle races, but she did have a hunch.

"I guess I just push myself as hard as I can," Garfield said.

She decides on what stroke she will use based upon how she does in any particular event.

"For the strokes I do (during freestyle), it just depends on how high I place," Garfield said noting that her favorite stroke is the backstroke.

Marcus Woods, who is in his eighth year with the team, swam the 100 backstroke and took sixth place. He finished fourth in the 200 IM and fifth in the 100 breaststroke.

"I'm doing pretty good," Woods said noting his best stroke was the breaststroke. "I practice that stroke a lot."

He was full of thanks to those who helped train him.

"I had Casey Knudsen a long time and Nicole Arnold and some of those other coaches that used to coach us," Woods said. "We have Donnie Lynn and soon we're going to have a new assistant coach. I gotta thank those guys because that helped me get my breaststroke a lot better."

Thirteen year-old Jillian O'Brien won the 200 IM, placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke and took fifth in the 100 backstroke, all after singing the national anthem.

"The 200 IM went really well, I got first in it, which really surprised me because sometimes I barely make it into the top six," O'Brien said noting that the breaststroke was her favorite stroke.

O'Brien, who is in her eighth year with the team, loves her home meet.

"I actually like our home meet a lot because if it is cold, I can run home and take a hot shower before my next event," O'Brien said. "You get the home-field advantage due to swimming in the pool every day."