Sugar Grove's Leah Hayes on her way to living Olympic dream

SUGAR GROVE – Leah Hayes hopes to compete in the Olympics some day.

With the way she’s swimming, the Sugar Grove resident may get there by the time she reaches her teens.

The 10-year-old already has set eight state records, four of which also are national records, including one that was previously held by Elizabeth Beisel.

If Beisel’s name sounds familiar, that’s not surprising. She represented the United States at the Rio Olympics, serving as a team captain on the USA women’s swimming team and competing in her third Olympics.

Hayes broke the 200-yard individual medley record Beisel established in 2003. Hayes posted a 2:30.97 in early August at the IUPUI-hosted Mega Zone meet while representing Team Illinois. She won the race by more than 10 seconds.

“It’s amazing, really a ‘wow’ thing,” Hayes said. “Going into the race I knew [the record] was held by Elizabeth Beisel, and I went in trying to break it.”

She also recently broke records in the 10-and-Under National Age Group in the 100 freestyle (1:01.29), 200 freestyle (2:14.87) and 50 breaststroke (36.06). She also set a national record in the 50 freestyle, but it was recently eclipsed.

“I knew going into the nationals that all the girls would be on their games,” Hayes said. “I spent a lot of time practicing my turns and starts, and I just guess I was ready to see what I could do with everyone else there.”

Hayes, who trains under coach Nancy Jean Hooper with the USA Athletic Club Tidal Waves Swim Club in Aurora, also has fought adversity. She suffers from alopecia areata, a type of hair loss.

“My coach is a great motivation for me and always keeps me positive,” Hayes said. “Even though I have alopecia, I can do whatever I want to do. I actually want to be an Olympian some day. I want to go out there and do anything that I want.”

As a 15-year-old, Beisel was the youngest member of the U.S. women’s swim team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Hayes will be a 14-year-old and just a couple of months shy of her 15th birthday when the 2020 Summer Olympics arrive in Tokyo.

Perhaps she’ll be there.