Howell's Hunter Gubeno, Pinckney's Tyler Ray swim in Colts' stadium at U.S. Olympic Trials

Hunter Gubeno of Howell and Tyler Ray of Pinckney have swam in big state and national meets throughout their careers, but nothing could prepare them for the atmosphere at the recent U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

Yes, it’s the biggest meet for Americans short of the Olympics or world championships, so the Trials are the opportunity of a lifetime for many swimmers.

This year was different, with the Trials taking place at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts.

A major venue also meant large crowds for a sport that doesn’t attract a lot of mainstream attention outside of Olympic years.

“It was insane, definitely not like any other swim meet I’ve swam at before,” Gubeno said. “Swimming under the lights in front of 20,000 people was a different experience, definitely something I’ll remember forever.”

Ray wasn’t sure how meet organizers would pull off a swim meet in a cavernous football stadium. He was pleasantly surprised.

“I was a little bit skeptical going in,” Ray said. “It was super cool to do it in a football stadium, but how are they going to fill this thing and create this environment where it doesn’t feel spacy? When I walked out, I was like, ‘Wow, they knocked it out with this one.’

“The atmosphere they were able to create by far exceeded my expectations. This was the first time I really watched swimming. I was like, ‘I could watch this every single night.’”

This was the second Trials for Gubeno and the first for Ray.

Coming off his freshman year at the University of Cincinnati, Gubeno swam in three events three years ago when the Trials were held in a more traditional setting at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb.

Even though the venue was considerably different, that experience prepared Gubeno for the pressure of competing in the Trials.

“The pool is exactly the same and everything about that was very similar,” he said. “Just being able to get the experience in 2021 definitely helped calm my nerves when I got there and make it less stressful.”

Gubeno achieved one of his goals by qualifying for the semifinals in the 200-meter backstroke after placing 15th out of 63 swimmers in prelims in 1 minute, 59.34 seconds the morning of June 19. The top 16 made the semis. He was also 15th in the semifinals in 2:00.92 that evening.

“That was definitely my main goal going into it, just getting a second swim at night,” Gubeno said. “I wasn’t too worried how I did at night; I just wanted to get there. There’s definitely a lot more theatrics, a lot more people in attendance, a lot more hype around it (for the night races).”

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In his other event, Gubeno was 56th out of 90 swimmers in the 200 individual medley in 2:03.25.

Gubeno isn’t sure if he will still be competing four years from now for the next Trials. He will take a fifth year of eligibility at Cincinnati, which was granted because his first year was limited by COVID restrictions, while working on a masters degree in marketing.

At Cincinnati, Gubeno has set three individual school records and has been part of five record-setting relay teams. At Howell, Gubeno owns 10 of the school’s 11 swimming records and was Livingston County’s first male state champion when he won two events in 2019.

“I’m still kind of feeling out everything,” Gubeno said. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go pro or anything like that. Being able to swim for another year and just have fun with it is something I wanted to do.

“It’s gone better (at Cincinnati) than I could have expected it to. Coming in, I wasn’t the fastest, I didn’t know if I could make relay teams or conference teams. I just kind of embraced all of it and it went really well so far.”

Ray qualified for the Trials in the 200 butterfly, placing 40th out of 54 swimmers in 2:00.92. He entered the Trials ranked 45th out of 57 qualifiers in 2:00.27.

Being able to outperform his seeding and come close to his qualifying time was a huge victory for Ray, who missed more than two weeks of training prior to the Trials because of a dislocated shoulder.

“I didn’t want to go into the meet just to say I swam there,” Ray said. “I wanted to go to the semifinals. Unfortunately, that course kind of got derailed. I was able to work a lot with my trainer during that time. We were all working so hard to get me back. The goal became, instead of the semifinals, let’s see how I can swim this race at Trials. I was really lucky I was able to get it together a couple days before the meet and race. It was incredible overall.”

In his second season at the University of Michigan, Ray competed in five events at the NCAA championships, placing 14th in the 200-yard butterfly and 16th in the 100 butterfly. His best finish in the Big Ten Conference meet was third in the 100 butterfly.

“It’s been even more amazing than I hoped it would be,” said Ray, who won a county-record three state championships at Pinckney . “I had a really good season this past year.”

Looking four years down the road, Ray isn’t sure if he will continue to compete beyond college to get another shot at the Trials.

“I have two years at Michigan,” he said. “I’d have to train an extra two years to go back. Honestly, going into the meet, that was not something I was going to seriously consider unless things change. I’m not the strongest long-course swimmer. I always say to myself if I get really good at long-course, I’d consider it. I had such a great experience I’d almost consider it just to go back to that meet again. It was such a good time. It’s not something I expected to feel going into that.”

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Howell's Hunter Gubeno, Pinckney's Tyler Ray swim in Colts' stadium at U.S. Olympic Trials