With a medal draped around her neck, Sarah Lutz could reflect on the 6th annual Nordic Chill Swim Meet and declare: mission accomplished.
Not only did Lutz capture first place in the 13-14 age category, accumulating the greatest points aggregate, she also booked her spot in the provincials.
She will now represent Barrhead at the February 22-24 provincials in Sherwood Park.
It is a tremendous honour for the 14-year-old Barrhead Composite High School student, who is daughter of Barrhead Swim Club head coach Karen Lutz.
“It went really well,” Sarah said after Sunday’s performance. “We just had a lot of fun today.
“The meet for us here is a pretty good learning experience for the non-competitive. For the competitive it’s a last chance to qualify for provincials so we go as hard as we can.”
So how did she rate her weekend performance?
“Some of my swims went really well, and some of them didn’t,” she smiled. “My 200 metre backstroke went really well.”
Overall, she said, she was pleased with her consistency in the various disciplines.
Sarah’s strongest stroke is her breaststroke, but she has set such a good record time that it is proving hard to beat.
“I was one second off it today,” she said. “In swimming that’s a lot of time to make up.”
In most of the 50 metre swims she was within hundredths of a second of her best times.
Head coach Karen Lutz knows her daughter has plenty of time to realize her potential and improve those personal bests.
Naturally she is delighted Sarah will be carrying the family and town banner later this month.
“I am very proud of my daughter,” she said.
Lutz hopes that next year more local swimmers will qualify for provincials.
