Hot Springs swimmer wins Spirit Award

Hot Springs Family YMCA Seal swimmer Lizzie Purnell was awarded the Mary Grace Spirit Award earlier this month at the the Mary Grace Tucker Memorial Invitational at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The Mary Grace Tucker Memorial Invitational is hosted by the Arkansas Dolphin-Laser Swim Team. The meet took place at UALR July 11-13.

Mary Grace Tucker was a Laser swimmer who died in a tragic car accident on the way home from the 2005 Long Course State Meet in Bentonville. The Spirit Award awarded in her name is not performance-based.

"They are looking for the ones who goes above and beyond, who encourages others, who always has the joyful spirit and Lizzie is one of our team captains," said Sherry Salvatore, who has been coaching the Seals since March.

"She always goes above and beyond. She makes ribbons for all of the competitors for our team for each swim meet. They tie them on their bags and she goes the extra mile and puts their name, the swim meet and the date and the whole thing."

"I think it is fun to do it, but I also have to take time out of the day," Purnell said of her extra efforts.

Each team nominates one boy and one girl aged 13 and older, as well as one boy and one girl 12 and younger. Coaches had write and submit the essays for their nominations on the day the award is announced.

Purnell said she was caught off guard just by being nominated. She was not expecting to win the award as a member of the Seals, one of the smaller competitive teams.

"It kind of surprised me," Purnell said. "I know in the past it has always been one of the Racers or Dolphin-Lasers that has gotten it."

Purnell will be a sophomore this fall at Hot Springs High School. She is the daughter of Bob Purnell and Betsy Parsons. She thanked her parents and her past coaches for their support.

A panel of judges reviews the coaches' nominations. The nominations and award winners are then announced. Purnell became the first Seal to win the award in the past six years. She received a waterproof MP3 player. The younger winners received trophies.

Purnell said it was very generous of Salvatore to nominate her.

"I didn't really expect to be nominated," Purnell said. "I thought other people would get nominated before I would."

Salvatore pointed out that Purnell is also very competitive. She qualified for the Arkansas State Championship meet in Fort Smith this weekend in the 50 free.

Purnell is an active member of the Environmental And Spatial Technologies lab at Hot Springs High School. She also volunteers with the robotics team at Hot Springs Intermediate School.

Three other Seals are taking part in the Arkansas Governor's School at Hendrix College in Conway. The three participants are Eberle Yarborough, Lakeside; Grace Drake, Lakeside; and Emily Crawford, Lake Hamilton.

Local on 07/23/2014

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