By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
By the age of nine, Delavan-Darien High School’s Luca Lopez was already swimming competitively. Fast forward nearly a decade – including a move from New Mexico to Wisconsin – and his final competitive race has now come to a close.
The WIAA State boys swimming Division 2 Championships took place Feb. 15. Lopez was in the same spot a season ago as he qualified for the state meet as a junior in the 200-yard IM and finished in 13th-place with a time of 2:07.81.
Lopez knew it was going to be the final race of his competitive career and just over two minutes after the highly-anticipated race began, it came to an end. He finished in 12th place with a time of 2:04.86.
“To be honest, it was one of the strangest races of my life,” Lopez said. “Just because I’ve been training in swimming for nine years now. That was my last race. There were a lot of nerves and a lot of emotions I’ve never felt…”
Read more about Lopez in an extensive feature story the Feb. 21 Delavan Enterprise.
