By David Nagel
Over the Christmas period, the Star News’ sports team will be re-sharing some of the most popular stories from over the course of 2023.
Thank you for supporting our newspapers over the course of the year. We hope you enjoy the selection and have a wonderful holiday period, however you choose to celebrate.
Pakenham Primary School student Lucas Kovac has claimed a silver and bronze medal at the School Sport Australia National Swimming Championships held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.
The 10-year-old, who is learning his craft with the Casey Tigersharks in Narre Warren – qualified for the championships after winning two gold medals at the School Sports Victoria State Championships.
Lucas used the pool at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre to showcase his rising talents, winning gold in the 50-metre breaststroke and butterfly for Boys 9-10.
He won the breaststroke in 44.78 seconds, almost two seconds clear of the field, and put a 2.78-second gap on his rivals in the butterfly.
Lucas travelled to Sydney with longer distance races in mind, and claimed his silver medal in the 100-metre breaststroke, finishing just 0.23 seconds behind the winner.
Lucas qualified with a time of 1:32.27 and broke that time with a 1:31.70 effort in the final.
The son of Kylie and Endi, and brother to sisters Ashley and Makayla, started swimming lessons at the age of one.
He was identified as a potential talent at four and joined his first swimming squad at five.
He has now dolphin-kicked his way to two state titles and wants to be like his heroes.
“I want to be an Olympic gold medallist when I get older,” he said.
Lucas holds eight club records at the Tigersharks, in the eight and nine-year-old bracket, and trains six days a week as he looks to keep improving his times.
He has joined the gold class at Casey, and is the youngest in the squad by almost two years.
Earlier this year, at the Victorian State Sprint Championships, he became the only nine-year-old to qualify for all four strokes – backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle – in the 11-and-under category.
Lucas won his second medal in Sydney in 200-metre medley relay, sharing the pool with fellow Victorians Mariella Simmons, Erin Parris and Callum Wilson to claim bronze.
His hard work and dedication are truly impressing his family, with mum Kylie his biggest fan.
“We’re super proud, we think he’s amazing,” Kylie said.
“His hard work, his focus, his commitment, he’s definitely got a competitive edge to him and he puts in a 110-percent every time.
“He’s very driven, he tries his best every time he hops in the pool and you can see he’s got that extra bit of something.
“We just keep taking him to training, and he keeps improving…and as long as he continues to love it we’ll keep on doing that and see where it takes him.
“We get told he’s got quite a bit of talent but he still has a lot of swimming to do
“Aside from school swimming, they can’t do proper state championships until they’re 12, or nationals until 14, so we’ve still got some time to go.”
