It took under two minutes for Emily Overholt to seal her spot on the Pan American team after a head-to-head fight with two other competitors Wednesday evening at the Canadian Swim Trials.

The West Vancouver Otters Swim Club member won the 200 metre freestyle at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, beating Katerine Savard and Kennedy Goss to the wall.

Overholt pushed herself to the limit after falling behind on the third turn, pressing on towards securing her spot at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto.

“I saw the other girls next to me and I knew it was going to be a really close race,” said Overholt. “So I just kind of put my head down and tried to go as fast as I could for the last 15 (metres).”

The 17-year-old Vancouver native was the top qualifier in her preliminary trials Wednesday morning with a time of 159.45. In the evening final, she put down at a 1:58.69.

She missed the world championship qualifying time.

Swimming in front of a large crowd at the Pan Ams is going to be a thrill, she says.

“I think swimming in front of a home crowd is gonna be really exciting,” Overholt said. “I think that’s going to give a huge advantage to everyone on the team, so I’m really excited.”

The girls battled one another for the first place standing as their times were extremely close.

Savard, from the Club Aquatique Montreal, who finished with a time of 2:00.34 in her preliminaries completed the finals with an improved time of 1:58.84 leaving her in second place and securing a spot on the Pam Am team.

Following in third, Kennedy Goss was 1:59.79 in her preliminaries and finished her final 200m Freestyle with a 1:59.01.

The 2015 Canadian Swim Trials continue this week through to Saturday April 4th at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.

Follow Naté on Twitter @taymaetz