Swim Team at State: Young scored 20 Points for Malta

The Malta Swim Team saw action at the Montana Federation of Swimmers State Meet last weekend in Conrad. The meet started on Saturday, July 29, and concluded on Sunday, July 30.

"The state swim meet was a huge learning curve for my swimmers," Malta Head Coach Darrow Messerly said. "They got to experience the highs and the lows that come with the meet."

Despite their youth, Coach Messerly was impressed with how they performed.

"I'm really proud of how my kids did because for a majority of them this was their first ever time at the state meet," Coach Messerly said. "I think the kids are going to strive to get better from here on out in their young careers so they can get back to the state meet every year they have left of swimming. And that has me really excited for the future of the Malta Swim team for years to come!"

Malta's boys team was led by Kael Young, a 15-year-old, who scored 20 points despite being on the young side of the Boys 15-19 age group.

Young placed fifth in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 1:04.10 in the finals. He had a time of 1:04.88 in the preliminary round, an improvement of .29 seconds.

He was also seventh in the 50 Meter Fly and seventh in the 100 Meter Freestyle with times of 33.62 (1.88 second improvement) and 27.89 (0.77 second improvement) respectively in the finals. His time in the 50 Meter Fly prelim was 35.96 and his time in the 50 Meter Freestyle prelim was 29.02.

Malta's girls team was lead by 12-year-old Taya Wilke. Wilke was eighth in the Girls 11-12 200 Meter IM with a time of 3:38.40. She shaved 3.02 seconds off of her previous personal best. She was also eleventh in the 50 Backstroke finals with a time of 46.30. She had a time of 46.31 in the preliminary race.

Silas Young, a 13-year-old, was the last Malta swimmer to earn points, scoring five for the Malta boys teams. He was tenth in the Boys 13-14 Meter Breaststroke with a time of 1:36.47 in the finals. He had a time of 1:36.65 in the preliminaries.

S. Young was also eleventh in the 100 Meter Freestyle with a time of 1:17.90 in the finals. He had a new best of 1:16.58 in the prelims (0.34 second improvement). He was sixteenth in the 50 Meter Freestyle with a time of 33.97.

Jayne Young competed in the Girls 9-10 50 Meter Freestyle and 50 Meter Backstroke events. She had a time of 54.08 in the 50 Meter Backstroke prelim race and finished fourteenth overall. She was seventeenth in the 50 Meter Freestyle prelim race with a time of 42 seconds, an improvement of .47 seconds.

Eleven-year-old Mariah Hould competed in the Girls 9-10 Meter Freestyle and had an improvement of 3.10 seconds. Her time was 1:43.96 and she placed 20th.

Aubrie Norville competed in the Girls Eight and Under 50 Meter Free. She was twenty-third with a time of 1:05.12.