Seventeen-year-old Sundre-raised Hayley Lukacs has been more than successful in her figure skating career, which began when she was eight.
She has recently achieved a rare skating accomplishment of gold level status in all of her disciplines, which are free skate, skating skills, dance and interpretive.
ìI'm really happy to have achieved it so early in the season,î said Lukacs.
ìIt's been one of my goals, especially since I'm going to university next year, so it'll probably be my last year of competitive skating,î she said.
The skating season generally runs from September to March, she said.
Even though she will be busy at the University of Alberta taking a bachelor of science in nursing, she has plans to continue to skate as much as possible, with her choreographer who coaches in the area.
ìI always want to skate, my whole life,î said Lukacs.
ìSkating has a feeling I can't really describe; it lets me take out all stress from school, from everything,î she said.
She skates three days a week, but says it's not enough. She has hopes to improve, sharpening up on everything from jumps, to spins and triples, she said.
ìSkating gives me a feeling of accomplishment when I do well and I achieve test levels like this,î said Lukacs.
ìIt's always been a big part of my life,î she said.
Lukacs credits her coach for all the support she has given her over the last two years.
ìShe has definitely got me really far and her dedication towards coaching me has been immense,î she said.
Brenda Stange, her coach, says Lukacs is a perfectionist and a role model to the other skaters. Her accomplishments show how hard she works and her amount of dedication to the sport, she said.
ìA gold achievement is a high achievement and not all skaters achieve that in their years of skating, and Hayley is what we call quad-gold,î said Stange.
A quad-gold status is when a skater achieves gold level status in all of their disciplines.
ìShe's a determined young lady, she's driven, she has a great work ethic and she is also a beautiful person to be around,î said Stange.
ìI'm proud to have coached her for the last couple of years and proud to says she's one of us here in Sundre.î
