U.S. Paralympic Championships: Gia Pergolini, Morgan Ray Set World Records on Night 1

Morgan Ray

U.S. Paralympic Championships: Gia Pergolini, Morgan Ray Set World Records on Night 1

Gia Pergolini and Morgan Ray set world records on the opening day of the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Championships in Orlando Friday.

Ray set his record in the morning at Orlando’s Rosen Aquatic Center. He went 2:59.49 to set a best time by just shy of seven seconds in the 200 breaststroke and set the S6 world record.

“I had the world record time in the back of my mind going into the race, but mainly just focused on putting together a solid first race at these national championships,” Ray told U.S. Para Swimming. “It gives me a lot of confidence to know that my new training is working, and I’m so stoked for this upcoming year. This is a huge weekend to see where we’re all at as we make the final push to U.S. Paralympic Trials in June.”

Para Swimming News

The mark had belonged to Germany’s Torbe Schmidtke, who went 2:59.93 way back in 2016.

The fastest time of the day belonged to Aiden Stivers, an S10 swimmer, who went 2:46.42.

Pergolini also set her record in the morning. The 19-year-old went 30.31 in the 50 backstroke, establishing the S13 world standard. Her time downs the 30.72 set in 2016 by Russian Anna Krivshina.

Pergolini holds the S13 100 back record, set at 1:04.64 at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Pergolini did not swim the event in Friday night’s final. Leanne Smith (S3) won in 1:18.46. Pergolini finished third in the 100 butterfly final instead. Fellow S13 swimmer Grace Nuhfer (1:04.81) won ahead of Taylor Winnett.

Lawrence Sapp won the men’s 100 fly in 58.27, with S14 swimmers taking the top three spots. Trevor Lukacsko was second in 1:00.58, ahead of Jeff Lovett.

Julia Gaffney prevailed in the women’s 50 fly, her time of 36.81 besting McKenzie Coan and Ahalya Lettenberger. Zach Shattuck won the men’s fly sprint in 33.72, over fellow S6 competitor Noah Thomas. Abbas Karimi, the only entrant in the 50 back final, was third in the 50 fly.

In the morning timed finals, S6 swimmer Elizabeth Marks won the 400 free in 5:23.01, ahead of Coan. Noah Jaffe won the men’s 400 free with a time of 4:29.94 over fellow S8 swimmer Zach Zona.

Colleen Young (S13) went 2:46.24 to win the timed final of the women’s 200 breast Friday morning. Sawyer Mills (S10) went 5:23.57 to win the timed final of the men’s 400 IM. He was also second in the 200 breast. S10 swimmer Rachel Keehn was the only entrant in the women’s IM, going 6:27.97.

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