Naperville teen who became youngest American woman to summit Everest among ESPY award winners

Thursday, July 21, 2022
LOS ANGELES (WLS) -- A Naperville teenager received an ESPY award Wednesday night for becoming the youngest American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Lucy Westlake received the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, along with Noor Abukaram, Kendall Dudley, Sydney Moore and Alicia Serratos.

"(Westlake) says her journey won't be complete until more girls are following in her footsteps," King said.

SEE MORE: Naperville native returns home after setting record on Mount Everest

The recent high school graduate hopes to complete the "Seven Summits," the highest mountains on each continent.

"The greatest, most emotional moment for me was about an hour before the summit," said Westlake. "I asked my Sherpa 'how much longer do we have?' I thought we had like three hours and he said an hour and I was like 'oh I got this, I know I'm going to summit.'"

Westlake has been climbing for years.

RELATED: Mount Everest climb: Naperville teen becomes youngest American woman to reach summit

"I've always loved adventure; I've always loved the mountains," said Westlake.

The video in the player above is from an earlier report.
Copyright © 2024 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.