Wednesday, September 23, the Maclay Girls Swim Team had their first swim meet of the season against Lawton Chiles High School. The girls ended up losing to the Chiles team with a final score of 123 points for Chiles and 44 for Maclay. The ratio of swimmers left Maclay disadvantaged, as Chiles had 12 more swimmers than Maclay. 

To start the meet off, Maclay lost the 200 yard medley but came in second to the Chiles relay team. Maclay’s backstroke leg on the relay was the closest to Chiles, but after that, Maclay struggled to keep up. Maclay started to come back when sophomore Meg Howell won the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:57 minutes.

“It was great to be back racing again,” Howell said. “I’m looking forward to working harder in practice so that my meets can improve throughout the season.”

Howell also swam the 500 yard freestyle which she placed second in. Howell said she is looking forward to an exciting rest of the season with such an amazing group of teammates. 

The 200 yard freestyle was the only event that the Maclay girls won. The team had a total of four second place finishes and four third place finishes. Senior Daniela Paredes placed second in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:25.99 minutes. 

“Personally, my times were lower than expected for the beginning of the season,” Paredes said. “I think overall everyone was happy that we could find a way to safely hold a meet.”

To Paredes, swimming in this meet was more than just her times. 

“I’m excited to get back to racing with my team,” Paredes said. 

Sixth grader McKay Yearty had her best times in both her events, the 200 yard freestyle and the 500 yard freestyle. She dropped ten seconds in the 200 yard and 20 seconds in the 500 yard. 

“I’m very excited to see my team excel from the past two decades,” Coach Pavel Sankovich said. “I’m most excited to see my swimmers get the jitterbugs out and finally get to race in a meet.”