Graduating senior Cameron Lutges was named Saugus High School’s Male Athlete of the Year during the school’s virtual Centurion Academy Pupil Recognition (CAPR) Awards ceremony Tuesday night after swimming for the Centurion Swim & Dive program for four years despite being a double above-the-knee amputee.

When the Centurion Swim & Dive men’s program’s coach Jim Klipfel first met Lutges during the athlete’s freshman orientation in the summer of 2016, the future Athlete of the Year introduced himself and expressed a desire to swim for the school with what Klipfel would later tell officials was the “confidence few students of any age have.”

“His smile was so contagious that it left me almost in awe that it could be genuine but it obviously was real,” Klipfel told Saugus Assistant Principal Marcus Garrett, who recounted his words during the awards ceremony. “In a spell of disbelief, I welcomed him to Saugus, and told him to check in with me in the coming weeks for announcements and the date for tryouts.”

Lutges would visit Klipfel every week leading up to the program’s tryouts. When they day came for him to try out for the team, Klipfel and Women’s Coach Krista Botton decided that the freshman had the “skills and coachability” to make the JV Team.

“We never had any regrets,” Klipfel said. “I still have not gotten used to turning my head on the pool deck during practice just to see two ‘legs’ leaning by Cameron’s gear on the bleachers. He is one of a kind.”

Klipfel went on to say that Lutges was loved by everyone from his teammates, to his fellow competitors, to even swim meet officials.

“Yes, he has some bad days, maybe some longer stretches, but he also has the maturity to humbly admit his weaknesses and strengths to plan past them,” he said. “Everyone likes, no, loves Cameron.”

During his senior season, Lutges had improved all of his strokes, and was “dropping times nearly every race.” After only four meets into the season, Lutges had qualified for the CIF Para-Athlete State Meet in Clovis, CA.

Unfortunately, that meet, along with many other sports competitions throughout the state, was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“COVID-19 may have changed that, but the season’s end did not erase the amazing relationships and inspiration that have surrounded Cameron Lutges,” Klipfel said. “He will be missed by all, and we will all continue to call him a close friend.”

The Saugus High School Athlete of the Year award is given to one male and one female student-athlete each year during the school’s annual CAPR Awards ceremony, which is typically held in the Centurion gym on campus a few weeks before graduation.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted all physical school campuses across the Santa Clarita Valley and the state of California to be closed down, Saugus High officials elected to hold the ceremony virtually this year.

“Let me acknowledge that our virtual CAPR Awards will not do justice to the level of recognition or the level of applause these students deserve, especially our seniors,” Saugus High Principal Vince Ferry said at the beginning of the ceremony. 

To watch the full CAPR Awards ceremony, check out the video above, or click here.

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