CEDAR CITY, Utah (July 13, 2026) — In the 40-year history of the Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games, few weekends have captured the full-circle spirit of the event like the recent gymnastics competition. This year, the event underwent a structural evolution, seamlessly uniting USA Gymnastics sanctioned sessions with non-sanctioned events under one cohesive weekend banner.

The massive logistical undertaking was driven by two dedicated sports coordinators operating from different states. Kari Louthan, Southern Utah University Athletics Hall of Fame gymnastics coach and owner of Red Peak Gym, took charge of the bustling non-sanctioned sessions. Meanwhile, first-year USG coordinator Cami Hammond traveled from Wyoming to captain the high-stakes, sanctioned side of the meet.

Beyond the scores and the rigorous podium placements, the weekend was anchored by an emotional, multi-generational reunion. Louthan orchestrated the surprise return of SUU Athletics Hall of Fame gymnast Julie Talbot, who competed in the third-ever Utah Summer Games in 1988. Decades later, Talbot stepped back onto the very same floor to perform her own original, deeply patriotic musical arrangement of the national anthem.

The Grassroots Growth of Red Peak Gym

The non-sanctioned division has grown rapidly under Louthan's leadership, serving as a vital entry point for local youth stepping onto the competitive stage. 

"When Red Peak Gym decided to be a part of Summer Games, it was to give our newly exposed athletes the opportunity to say, 'hey, do you like the sport enough to compete in it and represent our community?' That was the purpose behind our non-sanctioned involvement," Louthan shared.

The growth of the local program mirrors the escalating scale of the Summer Games themselves.

"I believe in our very 1st year with Summer Games, representing our facility, Red Peak Gym, we had 33 competitors. Last year, I think we had closer to 60 team athletes that competed for the Summer Games," Louthan noted.

Though the logistics are heavily integrated with her local business, the actual meet requires a monumental community shift to the university campus. 

"People contact our facility when they're trying to inquire about the Summer Games. They're not actually competing in our facility though. They're competing at SUU," Louthan said.

Blood, Sweat, and COVID Shortages

Louthan's journey to managing a premier multi-sport facility near campus was forged through severe personal and local adversity. After working as a recruiting coordinator for the Division I SUU gymnastics team, she initially stepped away to focus on family, a transition that proved unexpectedly short-lived.

"I realized, 'oh, I need to work.' Working is a source of validation in humanity. In my humanity of living, I need to serve," Louthan explained.

What started as a single class in her home quickly swelled to an overwhelming local demand.

"It started with one class, and it grew to 300 people coming into my house every week. That's when we realized, 'oh, wow, we might have a product here that could be viable for our community.' And that's when we made the decision to build," Louthan said.

Building Cedar City's first multi-sport facility, however, turned into an grueling 2.5-year ordeal marked by supply chain disruptions and historic weather.

"We were doing it right after COVID, so the price of materials was high at the time. Our contractor, Travis Larson Construction, was brand new to commercial contracting, and we took a gamble on a local contracting versus going outside of our community to get contracting help," Louthan recalled. "Our entire project was filled with, 'do you want to wait and see if the COVID prices go down or do you want to pay more? Do you want to wait or pay more, wait or pay more?' For example, one time we decided to pay more. We paid $40,000 more for metal to arrive. And then, we had the worst winter and it would be very easy for someone to slip and fall on our roof. So they said, 'we're so sorry, but we have to wait.'"

Ultimately, the severe financial and physical challenges redefined her mission for the facility.

"This building was an amazing amount of blood, sweat, tears, time, and money, and it was not built for me. It was built because when I started having people come to my home, I realized, 'oh, people don't necessarily need athletics, but they do need a place where they can feel safe. They do need a place where they can feel a connection, and they do need an opportunity or a place where they can grow and excel,'" Louthan said.

Dividing and Conquering a Two-State Sanctioned Puzzle

While Louthan managed the non-sanctioned meet, Hammond stepped directly into the strict, high-pressure world of USAG sanctioned scorekeeping. 

"I've hosted a lot of USAG sanctioned competitions. But, I didn't really know what to expect with the Utah Summer Games," Hammond said. "It was a little bit intimidating to come into a role for an event that has been going on for years and years and years."

To successfully bridge the gap, Hammond leaned heavily on veterans of the Utah judging circuit. 

"I actually had talked to Katie O'Brien. She's a USA gymnastics judge and she owns a whole bunch of gyms in Utah. She also used to run USG gymnastics a long time ago. So, it was cool to talk to her, as she gave me some pointers and ideas for things that maybe I'll change in the future," Hammond noted.

The sheer nomenclature of the historic event initially added an extra layer of psychological pressure for the incoming athletes chasing official qualifying scores. 

"I think the name 'Utah Summer Games' makes it a little bit more intimidating," Hammond remarked. "The name 'Utah Summer Games' makes it sound pretty official, right? And so the girls are like, 'oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.' But I told them, 'you guys have to think of it as just another competition.'"

The two coordinators had to continuously communicate across different software platforms to keep the weekend unified. 

"We kept it as more to, 'I do, you do' things," Hammond explained. "She had the role of getting the judges through the Utah Summer Games. I have to purchase a sanctioned event through the USAG. It's basically 2 completely different competitions, right? Kari had the software that she needed. I had the software that I needed, but we both used the same printers and things like that which we could do together."

A 1988 Echo and a Return to the Floor

The emotional climax of the weekend arrived when Julie Talbot stood on the floor of the America First Event Center. Her mind instantly drifted back to 1988, when she competed as a 12-year-old in a starkly different, unpolished version of the Games.

"Honestly, at the time, I didn't realize I was participating in one of the 1st Utah Summer Games. I was only 12 years old," Talbot recounted. "There weren't all the banners, like how the AFEC is now. It has a polished finish. I mean, it looks really professional. But back then, It was still pretty raw."

Her early memories of the venue highlight just how much the infrastructure has evolved over four decades.

"I remember thinking that the facility didn't look finished. There was equipment on the floor, but it wasn't completely covered. I mean, it was just spotty. There were some bars, but a lot of concrete in between," Talbot remembered.

Despite the raw setting, that singular 1988 experience left a permanent mark that eventually guided her collegiate recruitment to SUU.

"I won the gold medal on the beam though. I remember that," Talbot said. "I remember doing my beam routine. I remember winning and they told me, 'you're probably going to be interviewed and be on the news…' I just remember thinking, 'what event am I at? Why am I going to be on the news? Is this like an Olympics or something? What is going on here?'"

When Talbot later visited the campus as an elite high school recruit, the memories from the Summer Games instantly made the town feel familiar.

"Summer Games became more meaningful later because it was my 1st connection to a place that shaped so much of my life afterward. I remember when I went on my recruiting trip to Southern Utah. I remember thinking, 'oh, I remember coming here for summer games.' I remember having that memory and it was positive," Talbot said.

The "Star-Spangled Banner" and True Patriotism

When Louthan initially reached out to Talbot, it was simply for general administrative help, but the opportunity evolved into a profound tribute to country and sport. Talbot had spent months crafting an original musical arrangement of the national anthem to align with America's 250th independence celebrations. 

"Kari just said, 'hey, I am doing Summer Games. I could use some help. Could you drive down and help me with this?'" Talbot explained. "She was aware that I'd created this arrangement... and she's like, 'well, actually, we don't have anyone singing the 'Star Spangled Banner.' Do you want to sing your arrangement here?' And I was just thinking, 'I would love to.'"

For Talbot, the national anthem has always served as the sacred, grounding focal point of her entire athletic career. 

"As an athlete, not when I was 12. I didn't connect anything then. But when I was in college, every meet, the 'Star Spangled Banner,' that national anthem moment before we competed was my focus space. I would just sing it to myself and it was a moment that I could share with the entire audience before competition. I loved that moment," Talbot said.

Her unique performance incorporates both the first and third verses of Francis Scott Key's original text, explicitly designed to stir deep patriotic reflection. 

"I wanted to hope that my voice could carry that message to the audience and share a message of the anthem that they could hear in a new way. It's more of a reflection of the national anthem," Talbot stated. "I made an arrangement with the 1st and 3rd verses of Francis Scott Key's arrangement. But it was a moment of reflection, and I had a few people come up to me after and they felt it, they caught it, and that was very meaningful."

Louthan, watching from the edge of the floor, noted how deeply the arrangement resonated with everyone present. 

"As an adult and as a coach myself, I was emotional. Her last words are 'be brave,' and I think that's a powerful message to leave every U.S. citizen. Turbulent times are expected to continue and we do need to be strong and brave. We need to hold on to our values and our truths. We need to stand for what's right and that does require us to be brave," Louthan expressed.

The Legacy of Scott Bauman

No feature story on Southern Utah gymnastics is complete without acknowledging the program's longtime heartbeat, head coach Scott Bauman. For decades, Bauman's holistic philosophy has shaped generations of athletes.

"What I remember most about Scott is that he always told us he cared more about our academics than our gymnastics because our education would carry us through the rest of our lives," Talbot shared. "He respected my beliefs, defended them when necessary, and made me feel valued as a person, not just as an athlete, and because of that, it was just easy to work hard for him."

To encapsulate this deep, generational respect, Talbot spent months crafting a massive, historically dense textile masterpiece for Bauman's 25th coaching anniversary, which she recently updated to span 35 years of data.

"It's called the 'we worked our pants off' quilt," Talbot revealed. "I had Kari contact all the alumni through email, and I had them mail me a pair of their pants with their name signed on the pant pockets. I had Steph (Scott's wife) send me a pair of Scott's pants and I cut the backside off of them. And, I built this quilt. One side of the quilt has engravings of stats. I've sewn in statistics, bar graphs, line graphs, thermometer temperature risings, mountain climbing. It has statistics for all the years that he's been a coach."

The reverse side of the heavy quilt captures the rigorous, daily realities of the sport that only fellow gymnasts can truly comprehend.

"When you flip it over, I call that kind of the guts side, and that's the inside of what's happening in the gym today," Talbot explained. "I have an ice bucket block, to represent when you're in the training room for treatments and tending to injuries. The other side of the quilt is where all of us athletes, whether they're back in 1990 or 2026, share certain things as a gymnast that we all go through together."

Louthan, who coached alongside Bauman for 11 years, carried those exact principles of resilience into her management of the Summer Games.

"Scotty definitely took me under his wing and helped me learn how to have a champion mindset, even if you're not winning on a national level," Louthan said. "You fall on the balance beam, get yourself back up. You'll have people that do you wrong in your community or that hurt you for no good purpose. But what do you have to do? You have to find a way. You have to find the inner will inside of yourself, to pick yourself back up and say, 'I'm stronger, I'm better than this, I can do more.'"

Overcoming Technical Hurdles and Forging Unity

Operating outside of her home state of Wyoming, Hammond faced intense technical and personnel challenges on the floor, including software drops and a shortage of certified judges.

"There were times when the new software, the internet and the connection with the computer were not working" Hammond said. "I definitely need to bring a few more coaches if I'm running the computer. I had an issue with that, bringing my own girls that I coached down plus an additional coach. I feel like I needed more coaches for them so that I could focus more on making sure the scores were inputted correctly."

The judging panel required strategic adjustments mid-meet to keep the event valid under strict USAG guidelines. 

"We only had 3 judges. Usually you need at least 4 to run a sanctioned competition," Hammond explained. "So we actually had to run 3 events at a time. And then, any upper levels have to have a 2 panel judge. We had to compete with everybody... When our upper levels were ready to compete, we waited for that 2nd judge to come over and do a 2 judge panel."

Despite the frantic behind-the-scenes adjustments, the community stepped forward to ensure the athletes felt entirely supported. 

"Every single volunteer came up and asked me what they could do to help and clean up. I didn't have to ask anyone to help clean up. They were all just ready and willing to help, and I think that was really cool," Hammond noted.

To elevate the competitive experience, Hammond implemented a critical structural change to the awards ceremony just days before the first rotation. 

"I definitely think that making sure everyone places is a huge thing... You don't have to just do first, second, third. You can do everyone, and everyone can feel like they're competing for themselves and not against anyone else," Hammond stated. "We changed that like a couple days before."

Ultimately, both coordinators concluded that the shared experience of the sport unites the young athletes far more than any scoring system can divide them. 

"Whether it's a sanctioned event or a non-sanctioned event, I think just being able to compete in the sport of gymnastics and knowing that they're all gymnasts makes them united," Hammond beautifully summarized. "Gymnastics is a personal sport that you need to keep pushing yourself to want to be better. But, just competing as a gymnast in general is what unites everyone together."

Looking Toward the 2027 Horizon

With the 40th anniversary officially in the books, both leaders are already strategizing ways to expand the tournament's footprint. Hammond aims to initiate a national marketing push much earlier in the club rotation cycle.

"My primary goal is to start advertising now. Most of the gyms who are looking to get an official score already have their competitions on their schedule by around October first," Hammond stated. "I did have a few phone calls from places out of state like Colorado. Some of the gyms were asking if they could bring their athletes. They thought it was Utah gymnasts only. And so I think that if we advertise now, these surrounding states to Utah will bring their gymnasts to the Games."

For Louthan, the ultimate reward remains the profound, unmistakable atmosphere of belonging that defines Cedar City every June.

"When you're part of the Utah Summer Games, you're a part of more than just Utah culture, you're a part of connection," Louthan concluded. "You're part of something more than just yourself. You're part of a team. You're part of a family. You're part of something bigger... Utah Summer Games are a part of unity, connection, and opportunity."

Gallery by Shania Hopkins, with photos by Matthew Brinck and Julie Talbot