West Jordan opens strong

WEST JORDAN — For nearly eight months, West Jordan junior Josh Loomis has spent day after day working to make amends for something that wasn't his fault.

At the end of last year's 5A state meet, Loomis was disqualified in the 400-yard freestyle relay for jumping off the starting block early. West Jordan's boys team would've finished in fourth place had it not been DQ'd from the event but wound up seventh instead.

Thing was, a chance picture taken just as Loomis was getting ready to jump off the block showed that he did not go early and that the official ruled incorrectly. Loomis may have spent some time feeling sorry for himself, but he got back to work and has been doing everything imaginable since to avenge what happened.

"It was a huge setback, but it just makes me want to go even harder this year," he said.

In the end, it took him just 1 minute and 53.81 seconds to exorcise many of those demons. That's the time he put up in the 200 free during West Jordan's opening meet against Granger. It was nearly four full seconds faster than his state time from last year, which is phenomenal.

"I told him, 'You didn't do it. It's not your fault,' but he took it really personally in the offseason," said coach Gene Peterson. "(There were) a couple kids that worked really hard in the offseason, but he did not let up for one week. He took it so personally.

"He went out and trained with (Cottonwood Heights Aquatic Team) for a while. He did our summer program. He has the best work ethic on our team. There's a reason why he's succeeding so well."

When he realized his time in the Granger meet, Loomis could hardly believe it.

"I just looked up at the scoreboard and I was like, 'No way,'" he said, smiling. "I checked the lane to make sure it was my lane. I was happy."

As pleased as he was with the performance, he's far from satisfied. Loomis said his goal is to medal in both his events — the 200 free and the 100 fly — at state this season.

"Definitely, I wanna go out there and prove something," he said.

Peterson feels that West Jordan's DQ from the 400-free relay — though extremely painful at the time — will turn out to be a positive.

"It's kind of been a blessing in disguise," he said. "Josh alone: He's a hard worker anyways, but that just pushed him so much harder. He's going to be a state medalist this year because of that."