Stephanie Chambers

Ten years ago, the greatest winter-sport athletes from around the world converged on Utah for the 2002 Winter Olympics, and 10 years ago, thousands of volunteers from Utah worked to provide a stellar experience for the athletes and their coaches and families, as well as dignitaries and fans from around the world.

During the next week, swim pools around the state will be echoing with the cheers and tears of Top of Utah high school swimmers as they battle for state qualifications and region titles at a handful of championship meets.

With Viewmont tucked into a Salt Lake region this year, the Region 1 forecast calls for a Weber High surge for both the boys and girls titles. They'll be led by top performers Elizabeth Tomon, Erin Nordhill, Brighton West, Rachel De Young, Mary Williams, and Rachel Wilding for the girls; and Chandler Ward, Tim Romney, Shea Smith, Drake Mendelson, Tim Romney, John Brasher, Josh Nguyen, and Jon Vu for the boys.

OGDEN -- Coming off of a long winter moratorium, the Ogden High School boys' and girls' swim teams sharpened their skills at their annual invitational Saturday in their home pool. Both teams placed second behind deep Pleasant Grove High School squads.

Mary Foss knows about physical pain. The 29-year-old has suffered and triumphed through numerous mountain bike races and recently qualified for and finished the Xterra World Championships in Hawaii, which included a 1-mile ocean swim, an 18.3-mile mountain bike, and a 6.1-mile run.

But Foss also knows that being able to endure that pain, pushing through it and conquering it is one way of affirming life.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Instead of hardware, the St. Joseph High School girls'cross country team walked away from the state 1-A championships with hard lessons.

"That's how running sometimes is," said St. Joseph coach Javier Chavez on Wednesday morning.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Last year's Utah state championship run might not have been an easy victory for Davis cross country runner Shea Martinez, but it was definitely easier than this year.

Martinez, who won the 2010 championship as a sophomore by more than 20 seconds, was challenged by several runners this year at Sugarhouse Park Wednesday afternoon, as she went on to the win in a time of 18 minutes, 28 seconds, just six seconds faster than Jordan's Tavia Dutson.

SNOWBASIN -- Dan Hugo killed the bike. And then the bike killed him.

The South African native who was ranked eighth in the U.S. Pro Series coming into Saturday's Xterra USA Championship had a huge day, swimming the 1,500 meters in 21:28, biking 18 miles in the second-fastest time of the day in 1:22:56, and running 6.2 miles in 40:26. But his big day came to an end just short of the finish line when Nicolas Lebrun passed him with just over a mile to go.

"I didn't know he was coming," said Hugo. "I knew I was really struggling with the run, and suddenly he was 10 seconds behind me. He came out of left field. In hindsight, if I could have gone with him on the uphill, it was literally downhill to the finish."