Garrett Alleven of rural Marion will compete with swimmers from Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota Jan. 15 and 16 in the 27th annual Midwestern All-star Swim Meet in Lawrence.

The 11-year-old Marion Elementary School student will represent the Missouri Valley Conference, which includes teams in Kansas and part of Missouri. To qualify for the meet, he had to have a top-five time in the league.

Garrett began swimming competitively about three years ago on the summer team in Marion before joining the Newton Nitros, a year-round team.

“It’s just fun to race and meet other people,” Garrett said.

He qualified to compete in the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke, 50- and 100-yard backstroke, 50-yard freestyle, and a relay. Garrett said his best race is the 100-yard backstroke, in which he has a personal best time of 1 minute, 9 seconds.