By Nick Nunn
Staff Writer

The Morgan County Marlins hosted the 2012 Morgan Spooky Sprint swim meet this past Saturday morning at the Morgan County Aquatic Center.
This event was the third meet that the Marlins’ swim team has entered this year, and the second that the team has hosted, the first being the Morgan Fall Kick Off, which took place on September 29th.
The warm-up times for the swimmers began Saturday morning at 8:30 in preparation for the 58 events that would take place starting at 9:45.
Befitting the Halloween theme of the meet, the swimmers, dressed in costumes, lined up and paraded around the pool inside the Aquatic Center. The Morgan County Marlins won the costume contest with prehistoric-themed costumes.
Swimmers from the Marlins’ swim team competed in a total of 51 out of the 58 events on Saturday. The Marlins managed to win 1st place in 21 of those races and place 3rd or better in 17 more.
The swim classes were broken up into age and sex. The age groups included: 8& under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and open. Even though most of the races were either girls or boys races, some of the relay swims were mixed events.
Mary Claire Cardwell, 14, did exceptionally well during the event, coming in first place in the Girls 13-14 50-Yard Freestyle, 100-Yard Individual Medley, 50-Yard Backstroke, and 50-Yard Butterfly. She also won second in the 50-Yard Breaststroke (being narrowly beaten out by her teammate, Carolina Zant), and was part of the Mixed 14 & Under 100-Yard Medley Relay team, which also won first place.
Coach Andy Dunston was pleased with both his athletes’ performances and the success of the meet.
“I felt the meet went great,” said Dunston. “I was extremely pleased with the conduct of all the swimmers, and very thankful for the help and support of all the volunteer parents who make these meets run so smoothly.”
“We hope to make this an annual event with even more participation in the costume contests, and may introduce other fun things in future Spooky Sprints.”
The Marlins’ next scheduled event will be the Lanier Fall Aquatics Invitational, which will take place November 3rd-4th at the Frances Meadows Aquatic & Community Center in Gainesville.

Printed in the November 1 2012 edition.