INDIANAPOLIS — Dakota Luther’s coach, Brendan Hansen, won six medals in three Olympics. Her mother, Whitney Hedgepeth, won three medals in two Olympics. But down the stretch of the women’s 200-meter butterfly final at the USA Swimming national championships, none of that mattered.
Neither Hansen’s direction nor Hedgepeth’s genes were worth a hill of gold or silver to Luther as she sought to secure her first national team berth. A high school senior from Austin Swim Club, Luther had the will and found a way to hold off Sarah Gibson by four-hundredths of a second for second place behind the 2016 Olympic finalist Hali Flickinger.