Young Brothers lead Charge for Malta at State Swim Meet

The season ended for the Malta Swim team at the 2022 Montana Federation of Swimmers State Meet in Lewistown, and Malta earned a few medals to end the year.

The event was held at the Lewistown Aquatics Complex from Saturday, August 6, to Sunday, August 7. Over 500 swimmers were present for the meet.

Malta's boys team was seventeenth after scoring 48 points, and the Malta girls team was nineteenth with a score of nine points.

The boys were led by 14-year-old Kael Young, who scored a total of 27 points. His brother, 12-year-old Silas Young, was second amongst Malta swimmers with 13 points. Reese Brown, age 16, scored five points.

Nine-year-old Brooke Negus led the Malta girls swimmers with eight points, and 11-year-old Taya Wilke had one point.

The PCN caught up with Kael and Silas, who had placed as high as second place and third place respectively.

Kael described what it was like on the first day of the meet.

"It was pouring rain the entire first day," K. Young said. "It got a little bit better at the end, but it wasn't great."

Both have had state swimming experience in previous years having competed for Plentywood and Shelby. Kael felt that this season was tied for his best season ever in 2020.

"When we were in Plentywood, I placed really high in the state meet in Sidney," Kael said. "About the same as this time."

K. Young took second place in the Boys 13-14 100 Meter Freestyle with a time of 1:05.55 in the finals. He was third place in the prelims with a time of 1:07.61. He was asked how he was able to do so well in the freestyle events.

"The freestyle is less about rules and more about just going as fast as physically possible," K. Young said.

Kael also placed fifth in the Boys 13-14 50 Meter Freestyle with a time of 29.36 and sixth in the 50 Meter Fly with a time of 37.86.

Silas Young was sixth in the Boys 11-12 50 Meter Breaststroke. He also took sixth in the prelims of the same event with a time of 47.08. He was also ninth in the 100 Meter Freestyle with a time of 1:20.60.

"Breaststroke is my favorite event because I placed the highest in it," Silas said. "And it's one of those strokes where you just go as fast as you can. You don't have to pace yourself."

S. Young was asked how he thought he did this season as opposed to previous years.

"This year was kind of hard because I had to go against Kolten Machart," Silas said. "He is a really fast kid from Scobey. And he is like 6'1". It's kind of annoying because he does all of my events."

Silas also said that the year went fast but he feels that things went well. Personally, he was proud that he qualified for the finals in each of his events at state.

"I almost always got in the top six in most meets and at state, I was in the top twelve in everything, so it went great," S. Young said.

The Young brothers as well as sisters Taya Wilke and Danika Wilke competed in the Freestyle Relay and took second place. The same group placed fourth in the Medley Relay.

"I liked having a relay team that we could consistently do races with," K. Young said.

Brooke Negus was seventh in the Girls 9-10 50 Meter Fly with a time of 50.34. She was tenth after the prelims with a time of 56.99. She was also eleventh in the 50 Meter Backstroke with a time of 49.86.

Reese Brown was tenth in the Boys 15-19 100 Meter Breaststroke with a time of 1:45.83 and eleventh in the 100 Meter Freestyle with a time of 1:28.63.

T. Wilke was twelfth in the Girls 11-12 200 Meter IM with a time of 4:01.02.