Phillips County News - One Nation, Under God

The Malta Swim Team participated in their 2020 Divisional Meet named the COVID

Classic on Saturday, July 25, and Sunday, July 26.

Four swimmers were present for Malta, including Denvyr Tuss representing the girls and Reese Brown, Darrow Messerly, and Nolan Moore representing the boys.

"I thought everyone did really well," Malta Swim Team Coach Shay Garfield said. "They had some of the best times of their season. Only having two weeks of water time and having kids improve their time, I was very happy with how we ended."

Tuss scored a total of 18 points, while Brown, Messerly, and Moore scored a total of 73 points for the boys. Coach Garfield said that if the entire team was competing this summer, she believes that a team medal would've been in the cards.

The Malta swimmers were led by Messerly who scored a team-high 31 points. Messerly took first place in the Boys 15-19 100 Meter Breast Stroke with a time of 1:21.07. An improvement of -2.36. Messerly was fourth in the 50 Meter-Fly with a time of 35.69, and fifth in the 200 Meter IM with a time of 2:59.57.

"At the beginning of the season, Darrow wasn't sure what events he wanted to swim, and trying to find the third stroke is hard," Coach Garfield said. "But he ran with what he had and he worked so hard because he wanted to win the Breaststroke. He dug deep to get that COVID Classic Championship."

Darrow Messerly stands by Malta Swim Team Coach Shay Garfield at the 2020 COVID Classic. Photo by Lynda Brown.

Moore scored a total of 26 points. He placed second in the Boys 8 & Under 25 Meter Breaststroke. He also placed sixth in the 50 Meter Freestyle with a time of 52.02 and sixth in the 25 Meter Freestyle with a time of 22.38.

Tuss placed fifth in the Girls 11-12 50 Meter Backstroke with a time of 43.34. She was seventh in the 200 Meter Free with a time of 3:05.40, and ninth in the 50 Meter Fly with a time of 47.41.

Brown placed sixth in the Boys 13-14 Meter Breaststroke with a time of 1:50.87. He was eighth in the 50 Meter Free with a time of 36.98 and ninth in the 100 Meter Free with a time of 1:25.57.

Coach Garfield shared her thoughts on having the divisional meet be the end of the season.

"It was weird because we are used to having double the amount of people," Coach Garfield said of the COVID Classic. "But honestly, we are just glad that we had a swim season because at first, we weren't sure if we would have one or not."