Para Pan Pacs: Day 5 Records and Final Wrap-Up

The 2014 Pan Pacific Para-Swimming Championships wrapped up Sunday with three individual and seven relaye vents. The final day saw 34 records fall, taking the total to 166 over the five-day meet.

Women’s 100 Meter Freestyle

Yip Pin Xiu of Singapore won gold in the first event, women’s 100 free S3, with her time of 2:13.03. Kayla Wheeler of the US finished second in 2:51.80 and Breanna Sprenger took third. Wheeler set both the American and PanAm records with her swim.

Nely Miranda of Mexico won an uncontested S4 race in 1:46.86.

In S5 Joana Silva of Brazil added to her collection of gold medals with a 1:27.26 win in the 100 free. Silva went four-for-four during the meet, sweeping the 50/100/200 free events and winning the 50 fly as well. She earned a fifth gold in Brazil’s victory in the mixed 200 meter 20 point free relay on Saturday. Finishing second was USA’s Alyssa Gialamas in 1:35.21, a new American record in the class. Goh Rui Si Theresa of Singapore dropped almost 13 seconds off her prelims time to finish third.

In an all-Mexico S6 final, Vianney Trejo (1:22.67) won a very close contest over Doramitzi Gonazales (1:23.71) and Valeria Lopez (1:27.57).

American Cortney Jordan added another gold medal to her count when she swam to a 1:13.90 victory in the S7 race. Jordan had already won the S7 50,200, and 400 freestyles. Second place went to Brianna Nelson of Canada, who finished .34 ahead of New Zealand’s Nikita Howarth in 1:16.28.

The S8 race produced three records. USA Paralympian Jessica Long won in 1:05.61 which rewrote the American and PanAm records. Runner-up Maddison Elliott of Australia put up a 1:05.77 in finals to set a new record for Oceana in the event. The 15-year-old Australian was out nearly a second faster at the 50 than Long and it looked like she might pull off an upset, but Long demonstrated her grit by negative-splitting the 100 to out-touch her teenage rival by 16/100. Note: Elliott went a 1:05.32 at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month, setting the world record. Morgan Bird of Canada was the bronze medalist with 1:09.14.

Michelle Konkoly of the US broke four records in the S9 event over the course of the day. Her 1:03.81 in prelims lowered both the American and PanAm S9 records; she bested them with a 1:03.49 in finals to win gold. Teammate Lizzi Smith went PBs in both prelims and finals, settling on a silver-medal swim of 1:06.36. Brazil’s Camille Cruz out-touched Ashleigh Cockburn of Australia for third with 1:07.09. The Georgetown University senior Konkoly also broke the American and PanAm S9 50 free records on Day 1 of competition.

Aurélie Rivard of Canada won the S10 class with a PanAm record-breaking time of 1:01.08; Rivard was less than a second off the world record. The silver medal went to Australia’s Katherine Downie who touched in 1:03.15. Stefanni Cristino of Mexico took third with 1:05.10.

Two more records went down in the S11 race. Gold medalist Mary Fisher of New Zealand broke the Oceana record with her 1:08.79, while Letticia Martinez’s 1:15.48 set the American mark.

Becca Meyers was the S13 winner with a 1:01.35. It was her 4th individual gold medal (she won the 400 free, 100 fly, and 200 IM and was second in the 50 free). Teammate Martha Ruether, who had won the 50 earlier the meet, finished second in 1:02.42. Canadian Rhea Schmidt was four seconds faster than her prelims swim in finals, moving up on the field and claiming bronze.

Women’s 100 free S14 podium left to right: Beatriz Resendiz Garcia (MEX) 3rd, Kayla Clarke (AUS) 1st, Taylor Corry (AUS) 2nd. Photo: Anne Lepesant

Kayla Clarke and Taylor Corry of Australia provided the crowd a thrilling finish to the 100 free races as they traded stroke-for-stroke the entire second 50 of the S14 contest. In stunning photo-finish style, Clarke got to the wall first, winning by .01: 1:02.35 to 1:02.36. In prelims, Corry had set the Oceana record for S14 with 1:03.30. Both Corry and Clarke were well under that mark in finals, so in the end it was Clarke’s name etched into the record books. Bronze medalist Beatriz Resendiz Garcia of Mexico set a record of her own, going 1:08.39 in prelims for the PanAm mark. Her finals time of 1:08.70 was also under the previous standard but not faster than her new record.

Men’s 50 Meter Breaststroke

There were only two heats of men’s 50 breast: SB2 and SB3. In the first race Christopher Tronco of Mexico went a PB en route to winning in 1:00.63. Michael DeMarco of the US was silver medalist, and Australia’s Grant Patterson, who had set the Oceana record for SB2 in prelims with 1:03.16, was third in 1:03.59.

Ahmed Kelly of Australia won the SB3 race with a new Oceana record of 50.88, having first set it in prelims with 51.77. Mexico’s Gustavo Sanchez was second in 53.85, while Brazil’s Ronystony Cordeiro da Silva was third in 56.66.

Women’s 100 Meter Breaststroke

The final individual event was the 100 breast. American Haley Beranbaum won an uncontested SB5 race in 2:19.16. Tanya Huebner of Australia led the SB6 heat from start to finish, winning with a new Oceana record of 1:40.30. There was an exciting race for second, though, with Susana Ribeiro of Brazil beating out Danielle Kisser of Canada, 1:46.84 to 1:47.90.

Jessica Long picked up her fifth gold of the meet with a decisive 1:31.48 victory in the SB7 class. Long had an impressive medal haul over the course of the week, winning the S8 100 free, 400 free, 100 fly, and 200 IM, and finishing second in the 100 back. Canadians Tess Routliffe (1:41.28) and Sarah Mehain (1:48.27) were second and third, respectively.

Katarina Roxon of Canada put on quite a show in the SB8 race, winning by 8 seconds over New Zealand’s Nikita Howarth, 1:23.29 to 1:31.24. Howarth’s time was her best by 1.4 seconds and good enough for a new Oceana record. USA’s Hannah Aspden took third in 1:35.38.

Madeleine Scott of Australia won an exciting SB9 battle over Argentina’s Daniela Gimenez. At the 50, Scott had about a second’s lead over Gimenez and Katherine Downie of Australia. But Gimenez attacked her second half and nearly caught Scott. In the end Scott prevailed 1:23.09 to 1:23.38. Downie was third in 1:25.07.

Nadia Baez Sr of Argentina won gold in the SB11 race with 1:34.02 to Letticia Martinez of the US’s 1:36.23 and Naomi Ikinaga of Japan’s 1:39.15.

The SB12 100 breast was an all-Argentina affair: Anabel Moro won gold over teammate Florencia De la Vega 1:26.75 to 1:39.39.

American Colleen Young set the SB13 record in prelims with 1:19.76. She took another half-second off the record in finals, winning gold in 1:19.23. Teammate Becca Meyers placed second in 1:24.06, while Canadian Rhea Schmidt took third with 1:25.64.

The women’s 100 breast SB14 produced a total of six records. Gold medalist Kayla Clarke went 1:26.70 in prelims to set the Oceana standard; she then dropped 3.2 seconds for a 1:23.55 in finals to lower the mark. Silver medalist Justine Morrier of Canada broke the PanAm record twice, going 1:28.92 in prelims and 1:27.94 in finals. The bronze medal went to Mexico’s Mariana Diaz de la Vega in 1:30.08.

Fifth-place finisher American Leslie Cichocki broke the SB14 American record with 1:34.95 in prelims and again with 1:33.09 in finals.

Relays

• Brazil won the men’s 200 meter 20 point medley relay in 2:42.47. Australia and USA completed the podium.
• In the men’s 400 meter 34 point free relay, Australia took first with 3:51.44. They were followed by Brazil and USA.
• USA won the women’s 400 meter 34 point free relay, upsetting second-place Australia with a 4:26.62 to 4:31.87 victory. Canada took third.
• Team USA set the American and PanAm records in the men’s 400 meter 49 point medley relay with 4:20.99.
• Canada closed out the meet with a PanAm record in the men’s 400 meter 56 point medley relay, going 4:22.24.

Final Medal Count