Utah Summer Games ~ June 17, 2011

On Friday, June 17, Ryan’s warm-ups and events started at 12:30. We got up and had breakfast, and then went for a drive up Cedar Canyon. We weren’t sure if Cedar Breaks was open yet (we had heard that there was still too much snow, but that they were working to clear it in order to open over the weekend). We decided to go as far as we could. Much to our surprise, it was open! By the time we got there, we didn’t have a lot of time, but we spent a few minutes admiring the still-high snow and the beautiful views of Cedar Breaks.
After lunch and Hermie’s (a favorite local hamburger/shake place), we went to Ryan’s events. As we were getting Ryan ready to begin his events, we made friends with another family sitting nearby. Their swimmer, Payson, was the swimmer who took the gold in most of Ryan’s events. They live in West Point, and Payson swims for the Clearfield team. Even though they were competitors, Ryan and Payson quickly became good friends.Here are Ryan’s events and results, again with an asterisk indicating Ryan’s own best time:

200 Backstroke – 3:53.03* - 4th place
200 Breaststroke – 4:58.85* – 9th place
100 Backstroke – 1:49.99* – 4th place
50 Freestyle – 43.94 – 10th place
400 Individual Medley – 8:46.43* - 3RD PLACE! BRONZE MEDAL WINNER!!!

The 400 IM was definitely the highlight of the day. Ryan was such a trooper swimming it! We had also made friends with the swim team from Moab. As Ryan was swimming his 400 IM, the girls Ryan’s age stood at the bulkhead and cheered for Ryan as he approached the bulkhead and made his turns. It really did push him even more.
The Moab team coach, Penny, had an AMAZING camera! Here are some pictures that she took of Ryan, his cheerleaders, and me acting as his “lap counter”…


Of course, continuing the highlight of the day was the medals ceremony. As soon as the events ended, we went out to the lawn area in front of the building. Ryan’s friend, Payson, made some funny poses on the podium. Unfortunately, Ryan imitated him when it was HIS turn on the podium. Oh well! It was still a THRILL for this mom (and Rara and Papa) to see our little athlete on the podium!