Eastside Eagles’ swimmer Molly O’Brien signed her national letter of intent (NLI) Wednesday, May 15 to continue her swim career at Merchant Marine Academy 

The signing began with remarks from Eastside swim coach DeAnna O’Brien, who is also Molly’s mother.

Following the signing, Molly O’Brien spoke about her emotions after signing her NLI.

“Exciting — kind of overwhelming, a bit,” O’Brien said. “This whole time has felt like a dream but now it feels real. It is super exciting and I am blessed to have all these people here.”

Along with continuing her swim career, O’Brien was also intentional about joining a service academy.

“I was looking into all the service academies,” O’Brien said. “I just really love the Merchant Maine coach and his coaching style and the family-feel there.”

O’Brien’s swim career began at an early age.

“I started when I was 6 years old. Me and my brother just decided to start swimming and I loved it.”

As for her favorite moment as an Eagle, competing at the highest level alongside family tops the list for O’Brien.

“Making it [to] state on the same relay as my sister and with my mom as my coach,” O’Brien said. “It was super fun and we all got to experience it together.”

With her high school career behind her, moving up to the next level of competition is something that intrigued O’Brien.

“It is super exciting just to get to the next level of competition,” O’Brien said. "In high school the last four years, It has been the same level of competition, so college is a step up from that. I’m excited to see all the new competition and traveling.”

O’Brien ended her remarks to The News by sharing what her biggest motivator was.

“Being able to see what all is out there for me to do,” O’Brien said. “Anyone can make it to an academy, but I wanted to be someone that did that.”