This morning marked the start of the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Trials at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event commences this morning, Thursday June 30, and will be completed Saturday evening, July 3. The Trials features swims from athletes across a range of classification categories.
Over 400 athletes are competing in this year’s Paralympic Trials, with the hope of representing Team USA at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games (September 7 – 18), following the 2016 Olympic Games (August 5 – 21). Four women and three men will represent the U.S. at the Rio Paralympic Games.
Prelims Day 1 Results:
Click here for the full results sheet
Full finals results are available here.
Note: The Paralympic classification system for athletes competing in swimming is coded with an S followed by a number. A swimmer competing in a lower number category indicates that they have a physical impairment that has more impact on their ability to compete in swimming. For example, a swimmer in the S2 category has more severe activity limitation in the water than a swimmer in the S14 category. A more detailed description of the classification system can be found here.
Tonights Timeline is as follows:
W 200m Free (S1-S5, S14)
Alyssa Gialamas touches the wall first for the S5 class in the women’s 200 free at a time of 3:15.43, a second drop from her preliminary swim. Victoria BeeIner finished behind Gialamas with a time of 5:34.23 to wrap up the S5 class. The top finisher for the S14 class was the top seed of the night, Leslie Cichocki, with a time of 2:27.85. Harper Scott then finished second for the S14 class with a time of 2:40.25.
M 200m Free (S1-S5, S14)
As for the men, Curtis Lovejoy was the top finisher for the S2 class with a time of 5:30.67 clocking in a best time by over seven seconds. As for the S5 class, Roy Perkins Jr. finished first with a time of 2:46.29, dropping a second from his preliminary swim. After breaking the American Record for the 200 free S14 in the preliminary session, Garner Moss posted the top time for the men’s 200 free with a time of 2:21.21, adding a second from the preliminary session, but still finishing four seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Jesse Greve finished second behind Moss with a time of 2:25.56, followed by Alexander Quesada-Amor with a time of 2:27.19, Richard Mazur with a time of 2:45.43, and Ian Soules with a time of 3:04.81.
W 400m Free (S6-S13)
American record holder in the event, Rebeca Meyers, finished first in the S13 final with a time of 4:27.87, followed by Cailin Currie with a best time of 4:57.79. In the S12 class, Laurrie McClain Hermes was the only entrant, and finished with a best time of 5:17.07, 11 seconds faster than her entry time.
Serafin King took the win for the S10 class, with a time of 5:05.56. King was followed by Grace Lockwood (5:46.01) in second and Savannah Larson (6:25.04) in third.
As for the other classes, Natalie Sims (S9) touched the wall first with a best time of 5:02.19, Jessica Long (S8) took first in her class, dropping from her preliminary time, but still slightly off her best time. McKenzie Coan (S7) clocked in first with a time of 5:10.02 and Sophia Herzog finished first for the S6 class with a time of 6:37.15.
M 400m Free (S6-S13)
Bradley Snyder won the men’s 400 free for the S11 class with a time of 4:42.75, dropping almost five seconds from his preliminary time and out touching Tharon Drake who finished second with a time of 4:43.12. In the S10 class, Ian Silverman clocked in the top time at 4:19.68 and David Gelfand (S9) finished first with a time of 4:44.76.
American Record holder in the event, Robert Griswold (S8), was the top finisher with a time of 4:39.43, and the lone entrant Trevor Tucci (S7) finished with a time of 6:29.91.
As for the S6 class, after his best time this morning, Connor Gioffreda was the top seed going into finals, where he finished first slightly off his best at 5:59.56.
M 50m Breast (SB1-SB3)
The lone entrant in the men’s 50 breast was Michael DeMarco who finished with a time of 1:03.56, dropping a second and a half from the preliminary session.
W 100m Breast (SB4-SB14)
In the women’s 100 breast, Colleen Young (SB13) finished first at 1:16.72, dropping a second from her best time. Leslie Cichocki (SB14) was the top finisher at a time of 1:30.63.
Laurrie McClain Hermes (SB12), Letticia Martinez (SB11) and Bryce Ballinger (SB4) were the only entrants in their respective classes and finished with times of 1:37.33, 1:40.29 and 2:23.41 respectively.
Samantha Tubbs (SB9) clocked in the top time at 1:28.73, as well as Madelyn White (SB8) in her class with a time of 1:38.70, Elizabeth Marks (SB7) at 1:28.54, Sophia Herzog (SB6) at 1:38.30, and Noga Nir-Kristler at a time of 1:53.86.
M 100m Breast (SB4-SB14)
As for the men’s 100 breast, Tharon Drake clocked in the top time at 1:12.79 for the SB11 class, adding a little from his best time at the preliminary session. Alexander Quesada-Amor (SB14) also added from his best time at the preliminary session, but finished finals first with a time of 1:23.45.
Noah Scherf (SB13), Devin Marrero (SB5) and Roy Perkins Jr. (SB4) were the sole entrants in their class, and finished with times of 1:24.84, 2:06.76, 1:48.37 respectively.
Zach Shattuck (SB6) dropped over 30 seconds in his 100 breast, to win his class at 1:32.36. Evan Austin (SB7) and Cody Bureau (SB9) also had best times (1:23.39) and (1:18.05) to win their respective classes.
Dalton Herendeen clocked in the top time for the SB8 class at 1:15.36, but was just off his time from the preliminary session.
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