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Arlo Litterest, in the orange swim cap, will be heading to the Junior Olympics this July based on the times he swam at the YMCA meet held in Des Moines, Iowa. Arlo’s secret? Practice, practice, practice. Photo courtesy of Janet Arneson
On the weekend of March 17th, Arlo Litterst, age 10, a member of the Cook County YMCA Northerns Swim Team, competed in the North Central Regional Championship swim meet. The Wellmark YMCA, a branch of the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, Iowa, hosted the meet for 35 teams across the North Central Region. Participating swimmers who earned qualifying times were from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Arlo competed in two regional events; the 100-Yard Individual Medley where participants swim 25 yards each of the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, and the 50-Yard Butterfly. He placed 13th in his Individual Medley with a time of 1:23.98. He also placed 13th in his Butterfly with a time of 39.85, which was fast enough to qualify him for the Junior Olympics this July.
“He did great!”, said Arlo’s mom, Jane Asay. “We definitely had some ‘little fish in a big pond’ feelings, but he achieved personal records in both races!”
Arlo agreed, “The pool was really, really big and there were a lot of super-good swimmers!”
“One of my favorite things about Saturday,” he continued, “was I got cheers from the Superior Swim Team even before my race started. That felt really good.”
When asked why he thought he did so well, Arlo replied, “It’s like the back of my sweatshirt says, ‘Champions are made from practice’, and I practiced a lot!”
Looking ahead to July, Arlo said, “I’m not nervous for the Junior Olympics; I’m excited!”
“The entire coaching team is eager for Arlo to compete in the Junior Olympics this summer,” said Cook County Head Coach Karen Runkle. “We’re also looking forward to seeing what the spring and summer swim clubs hold for all of our youth swimmers in Cook County.”
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