It was neary impossible, but she was determined. There was no length she wouldn't go to in order to be at all three events. She went by car, by plane and ran in between. She would have taken a train, if it was necessary.
"I wanted to go to [everything] but knew I'd have to sacrifice something," Parsons said. "I would have felt bad to miss that [MVP] picture but I didn't want to cop out on my date. We had planned on going together since the summer."
Parsons' father, Rhet, had some connections. Rhet, an assistant coach for the boys' basketball team at South Sevier, talked about the scheduling conflict with one of his former players. The player, Jaron Maynes, is now a pilot and Rhet persuaded him to take Parsons and teammate Aubrey Lindgren - who also attended the banquet - back to Richfield from Salt Lake City. The only problem: There was no plane. A family friend was left to work on the missing plane.
Still, Jaden Parsons was optimistic and packed her bags as if she was going to make all three events.
Before Parsons left for Salt Lake City that morning, she packed hair spray, make-up, two curling irons, a skirt, a shirt and her dress shoes.
She had her basketball uniform and shoes. The dress was in a protective garment bag. It was pink-colored (bordering on coral). It was a sparkly, poofy prom dress with shoes to match. Total count for the trip - four outfits and five pairs of shoes.
The prepping didn't stop after she packed. Parsons was gluing on acrylic nails during the drive to Salt Lake City.
She waited until after the MVP shoot to curl her hair. She didn't want to look too prissy in the paper.
Meanwhile, Rhet paced the Tribune photo studio waiting to hear any word about getting a plane.
"Aubrey was in the same boat and her parents were just dying, too," Rhet said. "Not knowing what to do, if we could make this work."
Before the Tribune photo shoot was over, Rhet got a call saying a plane would be available. After Parsons curled her hair - in a spare room at the Tribune - her mother as well as Lindgren, who came to help Parsons, literally ran across the street to EnergySolutions Arena.
"The whole day was just us anticipating what was going to happen," Parsons said. "But, when everything was in place, we were constantly running. We got to everything in time."
Parsons and Lindgren couldn't stay at the banquet for long. As soon as they accepted their MVP and first-team all-state awards, respectively, the two took off for the airport.
Still in their dress clothes from the banquet, the girls dragged their prom dresses through a private airport called "Millionaire Air" to board a small four-person plane.
Parsons' and Lindgren's parents headed home by car after dropping their girls off. But the parents still were trying to beat the clock. Both Rhet and Ben Lindgren, Aubrey's father, wanted to get back in time for the daddy-daughter dance.
Rhet borrowed a radar detector for the drive to screen for police officers because he planned to go a little over the speed limit.
Back at the airport, the anticipation was worse than the flight. Lindgren had never flown before and Parsons had never been on a plane that small. The girls waited a fretful 40 minutes before the plane took off. Thanks to a strong headwind, the trip to Richfield took an extra 20 minutes. Other than that, the ride was a smooth one.
Parson's grandfather was waiting for her at the Richfield airport to pick her up and take her to her date's house. Parsons changed into her gown at her date's house and then both were out the door to the prom.
Every couple gets announced at the South Sevier prom. Parsons and Lindgren requested to be toward the end of the line. Parsons still was attaching her date's boutonniere and he was slipping on Parsons' corsage in line. Both could finally relax when they heard their names announced over the speakers.
"It was pretty hectic," Parsons said. "But I'm glad we did what we did."
While the kids were calming down, tension still was high in the Parsons' family vehicle as Mom and Dad headed toward the prom.
Fearing that he would miss the daddy-daughter dance, Rhet told his father to take his place. His reply: "I don't know how to dance. I hope you hurry."
Rhet's gamble with the radar detector paid off. The Parsons got to the school and Rhet walked in the building just as parents were invited to come down to dance with their kids.
As Rhet took his daughter's hand for a dance, the hectic day ending.
"It was just real rewarding to see your kid get recognized. It was all such an extreme thing to do," Rhet said. "But, you get to thinking about all the effort she put [into basketball] and prom falls on the same night. How are you going to take that away from her?"
METRO NOTES: Jadie then got up at 4:00am to drive to Salt Lake and attend practice the next morning. That determination is what makes Jadie great.