TORONTO- Haley Beranbaum (Snohomish, Washington) is unstoppable. In her fifth day of competition at the CIBC Aquatics Center she racked up yet another medal to add to her collection. Beranbaum won bronze in the women’s 50-meter freestyle S5 (:50.05) bringing her total medal count to four, with two days of competition left to go.
“I was not expecting this many medals, I was hoping for it, but I’m very excited with my performances,” Beranbaum gushed. “I’ll have to find a special place at the training center to put them.”
Lucas McCrory (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) won his second medal of the competition, grabbing bronze in the men’s 100 backstroke S7 after clocking a time of 1:36.10. McCrory just missed the podium after finishing fourth in the men’s 100 freestyle S7 (1:11.37).
“I really wanted a medal,” said McCrory. “I’ve been training a lot for this race in particular so it feels good to get one. I want to give a lot of credit to my competitors as well.”
McClain Hermes (Dacula, Georgia) made her first podium appearance with a bronze in the women’s 400 freestyle S13 after timing in at 5:31.90.
“I’ve been training really hard these past couple of months,” said McClain. “I didn’t think I’d make the team and then I surprised myself and made the team. I got here and swam two best times. I just dropped a lot of time. It has been an amazing experience.”
Zachary Shattuck (Mt. Airy, Maryland) swam a strong race in the men’s 100 freestyle S6 taking the sixth place spot (1:15.14). Sophia Herzog (Fairplay, Colorado) placed fourth in the women’s 100 freestyle S6 (1:26.18), and teammate Casandra Shaffer (Bend, Oregon) took sixth (1:42.49).
Other notable performances included Anna Johannes (Colorado Springs, Colorado), sixth place in the women’s 200 IM S10 (2:45.95); Leslie Cichocki (Palos Hills, Illinois), sixth place in the women’s 100 breaststroke (1:34.03); Ahalya Lettenberger (Glen Ellyn, Illinois), sixth place in the women’s 100 breaststroke S7 (sixth, 1:50.95); and Nelya Schasfoort took fifth place in the women’s 100 freestyle S7 (1:49.61).
Competition continues to heat up at the pool as swimmers enter into the final stretch of races on Thursday, August 13 beginning with preliminaries at 9 a.m. EST. Check out all the action live through the IPC website or wander over to TeamUSA.org/ParapanAm for updates, medal counts and much more.
Swimming news courtesy of USOC.