By Kale Nelson, Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games
CEDAR CITY, Utah (March 21, 2026) – Wrestling is an iconic sport in the Olympic movement, which made it only fitting Utah’s official state games started its ’40th Anniversary’ season with a multi-day wrestling event.
The Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games opened its 2026 Program Season with its annual ‘Wrestling’ event at Canyon View High School, held in partnership with Canyon View Wrestling and USA Wrestling – Utah. The event, which featured almost 600 wrestlers, started the season-long ’40th Anniversary’ celebration of the Utah Summer Games, which will take part throughout the year with support from Leavitt Group and Auto-Owners Insurance.
One of the hallmarks of the USG event has long been the multi-style competition, featuring Greco, Freestyle, and Folkstyle competitions. A total of 39 wrestlers earned the coveted ‘Triple Crown’ award, given to winners in all three styles. Overall, 340 gold medals were given to wrestlers ranging from ages 4 to 74.
Besides functioning as Utah’s official state games, the USG Wrestling event also serves as an entry point for younger wrestlers to experience high-level competition in southern Utah and neighboring states. The first ‘Triple Crown’ winner of the tournament was nine-year old Gabriel Myers, who hails from Las Vegas.
Myers said the fun and camaraderie of wrestling is what’s drawn him to the sport at such a young age.
“I had a lot of fun winning today,” said Myers, who was a first-time participant in the Summer Games. “It’s just a lot of fun traveling with my friends to wrestle.”
Celebration was a common theme at the event, whether in victory or a history of impact. Longtime Canyon View coach Dallas Lowry, who has served as USG’s Tournament Director for over a decade, announced his retirement from running the USG event in a pre-tournament meeting. While he will still teach and coach at Canyon View, it is expected USG will continue hosting the event in partnership with Canyon View, setting the stage for a new generation of coaches and student-athletes to take part in bringing the Summer Games experience to Utah’s grapplers.
Reflecting on his tenure, Lowry said running the Summer Games wrestling tournament has always been a labor of love for the benefit of kids in the state.
“This tournament has always been about the kids,” said Lowry, who has run a youth tournament at Canyon View for youth since 2004. “I felt tremendous synergy this weekend with all of the different groups associated with helping us run this tournament and felt like now was the right time to be able to contribute to this great event in a different way moving forward.”
LHM USG Executive Director Jon Oglesby expressed gratitude for Lowry’s impact on the program.
“When visiting with members of the wrestling community in Utah and surrounding states, a common thread is how much people respect Dallas Lowry‘s passion for wrestling and his energy for using it as a vehicle to teach young people valuable life lessons,” said Oglesby. “We have appreciated our time working with Coach Lowry and thank him for his vision and guidance in making this event a premiere showcase for the sport of wrestling in our state. We are excited for the future of this event and are grateful for the strong foundation we have to build upon.”
Registration for the 2026 Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games 40th Anniversary season is now open at https://utahsummergames.org/
The ‘Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games Opening Ceremony, presented by State Bank of Southern Utah’ is scheduled for Friday, June 5, with the ‘LHM USG Block Party, presented by KSL 5 TV’ taking place before the Opening Ceremony event.