Austin’s Myers stays active with triathlons

Published 7:00 pm Monday, August 5, 2013

Sawyer Myers of Austin recently took second in the SpamTown Triathlon and he is going to compete in the HyVee Triathlon in Des Moines Labor Day weekend. -- Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

Sawyer Myers of Austin recently took second in the SpamTown Triathlon and he is going to compete in the HyVee Triathlon in Des Moines Labor Day weekend. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

It’s pretty clear that Sawyer Myers of Austin is good at swimming.

The AHS student, who will be a junior this fall, competed in the Class ‘A’ state swimming meet last winter and was on the 200-yard medley relay team that finished 14th in the prelims.

But it’s not so clear that Myers is also pretty big into biking and running as well. Myers finished second in the first ever Spamtown Triathlon recently and he’s also got his sights set on competing as an individual in the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines, Iowa Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

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Myers knows how hard triathlons can be as athletes have to swim, run and bike hard.

“It’s a lot of work. You’re wiped out for like a week afterwards,” Myers said. “The toughest part is to keep going. At the end you just want to be done. It feels really good at the finish line though.”

Myers has competed in triathlons since he was young and he swam on a team triathlon effort in Des Moines last season with his dad. He always works on swimming, but Myers has also increased his running to prepare for the Hy-Vee triathlon.

“Running is my least favorite, but I’m starting to train for the Hy-Vee triathlon,” Myers said. “That’s a big one.”

Myers also plays tennis for the Packers and he’s going to come back to the cross country team this fall after taking a couple of years off. He’s not sure how rusty he’ll be in cross country, but he’s looking forward to the challenge.

“I’m kind of excited to see where my times will be. I’m also doing it to get in shape,” he said.

Myers said he’s seen the number of competitors who are his age in triathlons decrease as he’s gotten older, but he hopes to keep doing them for as long as possible.

“It would be fun to do it my whole life and stay that fit,” Myers said.