Utah Summer Games ~ June 16, 2011

A couple of months ago, I posted this video of Ryan swimming at the State B-C meet on Facebook. A junior high/high school friend of mine is now the meet director for all of the swimming events at the Utah Summer Games. He commented on Facebook that I should enter Ryan in the Utah Summer Games this year. He said that with Ryan’s times and age, he would do very well at the meet. (I posted the story of Ryan being “recruited” in this post.)

Ryan and I looked at the results from last year, and there were several events in Ryan’s age group where fewer kids entered than medals given! In fact, one of the events did not have any entrants at all! We decided to enter him in every event except the mile – a total of 14 events. We figured that would increase his chances of earning a medal, since some kids that age stay clear of some of the events, especially the longer events.

On Thursday, June 16, Rara & Papa picked us up at 7:00 am, and we drove to Cedar City. We checked Ryan in at the main athlete check-in, and then the swimmer check-in. My friend, the meet director, actually spotted us at the main check-in, and pretty much escorted us through the process.  We got Ryan into the pool for warm-ups, and then the event began.

Here are Thursday’s events and Ryan’s results (long course, for those of you who understand that). Asterisks indicate Ryan’s own best time, something I stress more than the place against other swimmers.

100 Freestyle – 1:32.76* – 8th place
50 Breaststroke – 59.07 – 8th place
200 Individual Medley – 4:12.37* – 8th place
50 Backstroke – 49.19* – 5th place
100 Butterfly – 2:07.29* - 4th place





We didn’t stay for the medals ceremony, since Ryan didn’t receive any medals on Thursday. Instead, we went to “carb load” at The Pizza Factory, one of Ryan’s favorite restaurants.

After dinner, we went to the SUU stadium for the Opening Ceremonies. Ryan got in free as an athlete, and was invited to march in with the athletes. Rara, Papa, and I had reserved seat tickets (and it was totally worth it, as opposed to the $5 cheaper General Admission).
It rained on and off, which was a little bit obnoxious, but created a beautiful rainbow over the stadium. I also found a little bit of gold at the end of the rainbow. :)


Ryan marching in with the athletes made me a little teary. It was such a fun experience being the mom of one of the athletes marching in, even if it was The Utah Summer Games and not the Olympics.

I have to mention that we saw “Bear, the Jazz Bear’s” van when we made a potty stop on our way down. Ryan was sure that he was on his way to the Summer Games. He was right! “Bear” rode around the track on a motorcycle doing tricks, including jumping through fire. And look at where Ryan ended up standing after the athletes marched in! Front and corner (in the black hoodie and blue w/white stripes warm-up pants).


There were also some extreme bikers (as in BMX) that did a performance over jumps and ramps. Again, Ryan was right in the front.

After those activities, the lights went out and a concert began. Anyone who knows our family well understands that we don’t do well in the dark with lights flashing and loud music playing. There have been barfing incidents (Lionel Richie, circa 1990, not me). Outside is better than inside, but still not a pleasant experience for those of us who suffer from easily-triggered migraines. I kept texting Ryan, but he wasn’t responding. Since we could still see him in the oft-passing searchlight, we sent Papa down for him, and then left. Besides, our little swimmer needed his sleep.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. Many of the swimmers we talked with earlier in the day said they had not attended the opening ceremonies, even though they had participated in the swimming events in previous years. It was one of the highlights of our week!