The water swallowed names before anyone could shout them twice. Faces that just a day earlier smiled beside caught fish are now etched into screens and phone alerts. Among them is an 8-year-old. Her image, barefoot and triumphant on a riverbank, now returns with a jolt, a reminder of a moment too quickly gone. Camp Mystic, where girls have learned songs, ropes, and sisterhood for generations, was struck by flash floods on July 4. Now, it bears a different legacy. One of silence, wreckage, and unanswered calls.

So who is this girl? Well, the unfortunate incident happened with Blakely McCrory. Ten campers and one counselor are still unaccounted for. Among them are Blakely and another child, Greta Toranzo. Both were last seen near the Guadalupe River, their most recent photos filled with joy and movement. Days later, one of their cabin mates, 8-year-old Mary Kathryn Jacobe, was found dead. Another, Margaret Bellows, survived. Her mother spoke of the Camp Mystic staff’s frantic efforts to preserve the lives of the girls in their care. Yet, for the group that slept in the “Bubble Inn” cabin, there has been no good news. The families of those children, including two 19-year-old counselors, one found deceased, the other still missing, have waited by rivers and rescue reports, hoping.

Among those grieving is Gina Chiles, mother of Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles. She reposted a story to her followers and added just one character, “🙏”. But in that one symbol sat the weight of shared understanding. Blakely may not train under Jordan Chiles’ coaches or walk the same gym floor, but for Chiles’ mother, that mattered little. In gymnastics, she suggested, there is a bond not easily broken. The sport teaches balance, yes, but also endurance. Emotional and otherwise. And now that strength is being asked of a girl who is not there to hear the plea.

The message has quietly spread among gym families across Texas and beyond. Blakely is one of ours. Gymnasts, especially young girls, understand effort under pressure. They’re taught to push through falls, silence the tremble in their knees, and try again. Blakely’s mother is facing a different sort of trial. One that no practice can prepare her for. Just months earlier, she buried her husband. Now she must search for her daughter. As communities circulate Blakely’s image and amplify her story, they also raise her name in prayer, exactly as Jordan Chiles’ mom asked. And not only Gina Chiles, but Lindsey Vonn too, shared the update about how the Texas flood has been affecting lives.

Lindsey Vonn, known for her resolute demeanor on the slopes, responded with unmistakable sorrow to the tragic reports emerging from Central Texas. As details unfolded about the flash floods that tore through Camp Mystic, a longstanding all-girls summer retreat, Vonn took a moment of solemnity to acknowledge the grief enveloping the camp’s extended community. She shared a post from The New York Times detailing the disaster, offering a message that, while brief, was charged with quiet anguish: “My heart goes out to these children and their families.”

Her words accompanied a report confirming that 27 children and counselors from Camp Mystic lost their lives, with several others still unaccounted for. The camp, situated along the banks of the Guadalupe River, became the focal point of one of the most harrowing natural disasters in the state’s recent history. For many, Vonn’s public expression of grief added a human dimension to the overwhelming statistics, a reminder that behind each name is a family waiting, or mourning, or both. The athlete’s decision to share the report rather than issue a longer personal statement was notable for its restraint, reflecting the seriousness of the moment.

The New York Times excerpt she amplified read, “Ten children from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp, remain missing after intense flooding in Central Texas that began Friday. The wait for news of the missing children has been agonizing for Camp Mystic’s tight-knit community.” In choosing to highlight this sentence, Vonn underscored not only the scale of the tragedy but the enduring emotional toll. Her gesture was not performative, but grounded, an acknowledgment, shared publicly, of pain that cannot be hurried or simplified.