FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12, 2006
SAN ANTONIO – The final day of preliminaries at the 2006 U.S.
Paralympics Swimming National Championships started off with a
new American record in the very first heat, setting the pace for
a very eventful Saturday morning at the Palo Alto College
Natatorium in San Antonio, Texas.
A total of 23 records were broken during the session, including
four new world records, two of which were set by Deb Gruen (New
Haven, Conn./Hamden North Haven Swimming) in the last three
races of the morning.
Gruen broke her own American and Pan-American records in the SB6
200m Breaststroke, and took more than four seconds off the world
record with her time of 3:38.83. After the men’s 200m
Breaststroke, which lasted one heat, she came back out set a new
world standard in the Women’s S7 1500m Freestyle with a time of
23:11.55.
Afterwards, Gruen, who will start her freshman year at Yale in
the fall, said the records had been in her sights.
“I trained hard for both the mile and the 200 breaststroke,”
Gruen said. “I had competed in the 200 breaststroke in the
Can-Am meet in April and I was one point-something seconds off,
so I knew I was close and I really wanted to get that record. In
the mile, I knew it was within my ability to do so, so I went
for it.”
Jessica Long (Baltimore, Md./Merritt Athletics Swimming)
continued her record-setting ways Saturday morning, picking up
her second world record of the event in the S8 100m Freestyle
(1:08.54), and set a Pan-Am record in the S8 100m Butterfly
(1:16.88).
The other world record of the morning was set by Singapore’s
Theresa Goh Ruh Si, whose time of 4:30.67 obliterated the
previous mark in the Women’s SB4 200m Breaststroke by nearly 40
seconds.
Paralympians Mark Barr (Davis, Calif./Unattached) and Ashley
Owens (Stockbridge, Ga./Tara Tarpons) also set Pan-Am records.
Barr set a new standard in the Men’s S9 100m Butterfly
(1:04.32), while Owens crushed the old mark in the Women’s S10
1500m Freestyle with her time of 19:26.39, more than 90 seconds
better than the old time.
Owens was quick to credit her closest competitor, Susan Beth
Scott (Cape Girardeau, Mo./Gator Swim Team), who raced in the
lane next to her and finished just four seconds back.
“I couldn’t have done it without the girl next to me,” Owens
said.
Anna Eames (Minneapolis, Minn./Twin Cities Swim Team) set a new
Pan-Am mark in the Women’s S10 100m Butterfly with a time of
1:14.47, and Courtney Jordan (Las Vegas, Nev./Team Rebel
Aquatics) set a new Pan-Am record in the Women’s S7 200m
Backstroke with a time of 3:16.90.
Elizabeth Stone (Grand Rapids, Mich/East Grand Rapids Aquatics)
was the first record-setter of the day, finishing the Women’s S9
200m Backstroke in 2:44.45. Kendall Bailey set an American mark
in the SB9 200m Breaststroke with a time of 3:06.22, and Rachel
Grusse (New Britain, Conn./Hbc Waves) set an American record
with a time of 3:37.53 in the Women’s S8 200m Backstroke.
Full results can be found at
http://www.usolympicteam.com/paralympics/swimming_teams_33834.htm.
Finals will take place tonight at 5:00 p.m., and World
Championships selection for the U.S. team will be tomorrow
morning at 9:00 a.m. at the Palo Alto College Natatorium in San
Antonio.
For more information, contact Marvin Olberding, U.S. Paralympics
Communications Coordinator, at (719) 321-6626.
About U.S. Paralympics:
U.S. Paralympics, a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee, is
dedicated to becoming the world leader in the Paralympic sports
movement and to promoting excellence in the lives of persons
with physical disabilities. Visit the U.S. Paralympics Web site
at
www.usparalympics.org.