The Liberty County YMCA Pirates swim team placed in several events at the Carey Hilliard’s swim meet Oct. 23-25 in Savannah.
Sandra Scott, 11, swam her first 400 individual medley in the 15 and over age group. She qualified for the state championship with a time of 5:41.40, which is 11 seconds shy of the cut-off for 11th place. McKaylin Darsey, 12, swam the 500 freestyle in 6:26.86, placing in the top eight for her age group. According to the coaching staff, Darsey’s time was a 36-second drop from her time last year.
Last up for the Pirates was coach Donna Hooe, who swam the 1,000 freestyle and earned her best time of 12:50.59, a six-second time drop and an eighth place finish for her age division.
David Molnar, 11, swam his first 50 butterfly in 47.16. His 50 freestyle time was 38.97, and he finished the day with the 100 breaststroke in 2:16.25 — a seven-second time drop from his previous run.
Darsey began the day with the 100 backstroke, finishing in 1:16.53, shaving five seconds off her time. She followed with the 50 freestyle, coming in at 31.64. Next came the 100 breaststroke, which Darsey finished in 1:39.05. Her final swim was the 200 backstroke, completed in 2:39.50.
Scott started with the 100 backstroke, finishing in 1:17.29, followed by a sixth place finish in the 100 individual medley at 1:14.56, shaving a second off her best time. She placed seventh in the 100 breaststroke, finishing in 1:27.90 — an 11-second improvement. Her final swim was the 200 and her time of 2:40.25 qualified for the state championship.Hooe finished a 100 freestyle at 1:03.05, and a 500 freestyle at 6:17.70.
Scott and Molnar were both ill the next day, but Scott did swim three of her four events. In the 100 butterfly, she posted an eighth-place finish. She finished the 200 in 2:30.02.
Darsey finished the 50 backstroke in 36.18, shaving off two seconds from his previous time. She finished the 100 butterfly in 1:24.27. It was Darsey’s first time competing in three heats and she ended on a high note, according to her coaches, improving her 200 freestyle by clocking in at 2:27.05.
Pirate Juan Vendrell, 16, made his swimming debut. After just two months in the pool, Vendrell earned an eighth-place finish in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:46.45. In his first 50 freestyle, he broke 30 seconds with a time of 29.94.
Hooe broke 2:20 for the first time in two years in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:19.71 and finished at 29.02 in the 50 freestyle.