Swimmers at State

The Malta Swim Team participated in the Montana Federation of Swimmers State Meet on Saturday, August 5 through Sunday, August 6 at the new pool in Lewistown.

The team brought 17 swimmers and two of those swimmers medaled that weekend. Eight-year-old Jahmiah Huffman LaBrie won the 25 meter backstroke with a time of 21.80, his fastest time of the season. Huffman LaBrie also took fourth place in the 25 Fly with a time of 21.29.

"Jahmiah did amazing," Malta Swim Coach Cassie Pratt said. "He's my little trooper. He got first place in his backstroke and set a pool record. I was so ecstatic watching that race. It was so close with another kid from Conrad. He pulled it off and when he got out of the pool, he grinned from ear to ear. We were so excited."

Senior swimmer Shay Garfield ended her swim team career on a high note as she took home third place in the 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 1:27.77, knocking 3.12 seconds off of her previous season best.

"I was very proud of her," Coach Pratt said. "The highlight of my summer was watching her do that and getting her best time, having her best race ever. She worked very hard and she definitely deserved that spot in the top three."

Thirteen-year-old Darrow Messerly took fifth place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:27.90.

Senior Ella Schye took sixth place in the 400 freestyle with a time of 6:13.83. She also placed eighth in the 100 free with a time of 1:15.63. Like Garfield, it was the last meet of Schye's swim team career.

Carly Garfield and Kylie Hunter fared well in their class as both girls, both aged fourteen were able to place in the top ten in their races.

Hunter took sixth in the 100 fly with a time of 1:39.97, ninth in the 200 IM with a time of 3:35.37 and tenth in the 50 fly with a time of 39.82.

C. Garfield took eighth in the 100 back with a time of 1:27.77, shaving 4.87 off of her personal best.

Jillian O'Brien, a fifteen-year-old took eighth in the 100 back with a time of 1:27.34. She also took ninth in both the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke with times of 3:11.85 and 1:37.40 respectively.

The state meet was the longest meet of the year for the Malta swimmers and their coach.

It was a long weekend," Coach Pratt said. "The meet didn't get done until 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday it was about the same time. It was probably more like 5 p.m. but still they were long, long days."

Coach Pratt believes that is was partially because the pool was new and because of the amount of swimmers.

"They wanted to run a really good meet and I think they did," Coach Pratt said. "They did a fantastic job. There were a lot of amenities for people and they did a very good job."

Coach Pratt was proud of her swimmers because despite being on the young side of their age brackets, they kept swimming hard.

"They are just young swimmers," Coach Pratt said. "And it's a tough sport to really improve yourself along with other kids that are doing the same thing that they are. I am so proud of them for making it to state. They swam their hardest and worked hard all summer."

Coach Pratt shared what she told her young swimmers during their trip.

"It doesn't matter if you get first place or twelfth place, I am just happy you are all here and get to experience this," she said.