Surf City will be well-represented at Summer Olympic Games

The 2016 Sumner Olympic Games will have a local flair to them when they begin with the opening ceremony Friday in Rio de Janeiro.

Local athletes, several of whom are making their Olympic debut, will compete for medals in various sports. Competition gets underway Saturday and the Games conclude with the closing ceremony Aug. 21.

Below is a closer look at other local athletes competing for Team USA in the Rio Olympic Games:

Tom Shields (Men’s Swimming)

Shields, a 2009 graduate of Edison High, will compete in his first Olympic Games.

He holds the American short course record in the 50-meter butterfly, the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter butterfly, and shares the American 200-meter butterfly record with Michael Phelps.

The 6-foot-4, 25-year-old Shields (1 minute 55.81 seconds) finished second to Phelps (1:54.84) in the 200-meter butterfly, and was second (51.20) to Phelps (51-seconds flat) in the 100-butterfly at the U.S. Olympic Trials on June 29 in Omaha, Neb.

He qualified for the Olympic Games in his third Olympic Trials appearance (2008, 2012, 2016).

“I am so excited to represent my home and my country. A huge personal goal of mine was accomplished in making the 2016 Olympic Team,” the 25-year-old said. “I cannot describe how happy I am with that, and how excited I am to try to be better at the games.”

Shields set Edison boys’ swimming records in the 200-yard freestyle, 50 free, 100 fly, 100 free, 500 free, and as part of the 200 free relay and 400 free relay teams. He was a four-time CIF Southern Section champion in the boys’ 200 free (setting a national record in 2009) and two-time champion in the boys’ 100 butterfly. He was named the 2009 National High School Swimmer of the Year.

Taylor Sander (Men’s Indoor Volleyball)

A native of Fountain Valley who now lives in Huntington Beach, Sander is a 6-foot-4 outside hitter. The 24-year-old, who plays professionally in Italy, prepped at Norco High and went on to become a four-time American Volleyball Coaches Assn. All-American and 2014 AVCA Player of the Year while at BYU (Class of 2014).

He was named MVP and Best Spiker of the Federation Internationale de Volleyball World League Final round and helped the U.S. Men’s team win the 2015 FIVB World Cup and qualify for the Rio Games.

Maggie Hogan (Women’s Canoe/Kayaking)

Born in Philadelphia, the Huntington Beach resident is competing in her first Olympic Games. The 37-year-old became the first U.S. canoe sprint athlete to qualify for the Rio Games by placing second in the single kayak (K1W) 500-meter event at the 2016 Pan American Sprint Canoe/Kayak Championships in May.

The 14-time national champion and former UC Santa Barbara swimmer, who trains at the Newport Aquatic Center, will compete in the K1W Women’s 500-meter.

Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson (Men’s Beach Volleyball)

Huntington Beach residents Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson are seeded sixth in the Olympic rankings and second in the U.S. rankings heading into Rio.

Patterson, 36, hails from Newbury Park, played collegiality at BYU and is a first-time Olympian. A native of Utah, Gibb, 40 is a two-time Olympian having previously earned a pair of fifth-place finishes (2008, 2012) with Sean Rosenthal.

Gibb and Patterson finished fifth at the 2015 Beach World Championships and won the 2015 St. Petersburg Grand Slam, where Gibb was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. They were named USA Volleyball’s Beach Team of the Year in 2013, and the 2014 Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Team of the Year.

During the 2016 AVP Tour, the pair won the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Huntington Beach Open in May, the San Francisco Open in June and the Manhattan Beach Open last month.

“This is another step leading up to the Olympics,” Patterson said after the duo won in Huntington.