Emma B’Hymer’s summer is going swimmingly, thank you.
B’Hymer, 17, of Iola, was in Des Moines, Iowa, July 27-30, for the AAU Jr. Olympic Games, where she took on throngs of the country’s best young swimmers.
She saved her best for last, placing seventh out of 50 in the 100-meter breaststroke — her final meet of the competition — to earn a medal.
“This was one of the best and most memorable moments of my life,” said B’Hymer, daughter of Iolans Amie Witten and Eric B’Hymer and granddaughter Dwayne and Georganna Jarred of Iola and Barbara Riley of Newton.
She also competed in three other races at the AAU event, taking 43rd out of 82 competitors in the 50-meter freestyle, 27th of 59 in the 100-meter backstroke and 41st out of 84 swimmers in the 100-meter freestyle.
B’Hymer is entering her senior year at Humboldt High School. She is the first (and only) Humboldt swimmer as part of a cooperative team with Fort Scott High School.
And because Fort Scott does not have a regulation-sized pool, B’Hymer commutes from Iola to Pittsburg — 75 miles each way — five days a week.
TRUTH be told, she wouldn’t want it any other way.
“I’ve tried pretty much every sport in the book,” she said. “I’ve played volleyball,
I’ve played softball, basketball. I played golf one year, and I did dance. I’ve done a lot of different things, but swimming has always been my favorite.”
B’Hymer’s grandmother, Iolan Georganna Jarred, noted early concerns about burnout never came to fruition.
If anything, it’s been the opposite.
B’Hmyer typically fills her time during long trips back and forth to practice watching swimming videos, or various competitions, via YouTube.
“She still does it,” Jarred laughed. “If there’s swimming on TV, she watches it.”
JARRED sensed years ago there was something special about her granddaughter’s passion for the pool.
B’Hymer had barely learned to swim as a 6-year-old when she vowed one day she’d swim in the Olympics.
It was about the time B’Hymer entered high school that she opted to give up the other sports like volleyball and softball to focus solely on swimming.
