“I guess I can say I’m an Olympic Speed Skater now,” Emery Lehman, a senior at Oak Park (Illinois) River Forest High School, wrote in his short biography on Twitter.

While the rest of the River Forest students were on winter vacation, Lehman was in Kearns, Utah, competing for a place on the United States Speedskating team.

He earned his spot after finishing second to Jonathan Kuck, 2010 Vancouver Olympics silver medalist, in the 5,000 meters.

He also will also be a representative for the U.S. in the 10,000-meter event after winning the event at the trials.

Lehman was no long shot. He won the 5,000 meters, along with the 1,500 and 3,000 meters, at the 2011-12 U.S. Junior Championships.

An article on ESPN details the thrilling victory. “Lehman was about four seconds behind with three laps to go, but he turned on the speed and began closing the gap quickly,” the article read. “As the bell rang for the final lap, Lehman stormed ahead from the inside lane as the crowd at the Utah Olympic Oval roared, not used to seeing such a dramatic finish in speedskating’s longest event.”

In his profile on US Speedskating team website, Lehman said that the biggest challenge he had to overcome is balancing high school academics and sports with speedskating and his travel schedule.

For him to compete in the Olympics, according to Yahoo! Sports, Lehman will not be playing hockey for the first time in 12 years. However, he will return to play lacrosse for River Park in the spring.