Rhyan White will be bringing a medal home to Herriman.
White, the first Utah swimmer to represent the United States at the Olympics, earned a medal after Team USA won the silver-medal in women’s 4x100-meter medley relay Saturday night at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. She did not swim in the final but swam in Friday’s semifinal race.
Regan Smith, who took bronze in the 100 back, led off for the USA. She was followed by gold-medal breaststroker Lydia Jacoby, Torri Huske in the butterfly and Abbey Weitzeil in the freestyle. Their combined time was 3 minutes, 51.73 seconds.
“I just wanted to go out there and leave it all in the pool for these girls in this whole team, and I really think I did that,” Smith said.
She added, “This was a great experience. I feel like I learned a lot and I loved getting to spend time with so many incredible women and men on this team. I think that was the best part, is getting to spend some time with people and bond with them and have Team USA grow closer.”
Australia claimed the gold by thirteen-hundredths of a second. Canada (3:52.50) took bronze.
Team USA had the second-fastest finals qualifying time, trailing Canada by a mere hundredth of a second. The relay was the last chance for Canada to earn a swimming medal from Tokyo.
White, who graduated from the Academy of Math, Engineering and Science but swam for Cottonwood High, won the 200 back in the U.S. Olympic Trials and placed second in the 100 back behind Smith. In Tokyo, she placed fourth in both individual events while being cheered on by groups of friends and family at her childhood home and at Cottonwood High.
Follow @julie_jag