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Paralympic Trials

If you were able to follow some of the Facebook and Twitter updates, then you will have read that Richard had an incredible Trials meet.  After 8 years away from the pool, Richard came out of retirement when his disability class was reinstated into Paralympic Sports. After just over 12 months of training, we were thrilled to see Richard get near his best time in the 200 free (dropping 10 seconds form his season best), Mile and 200 fly. He also got a lifetime best in the 100 back and set a new American Record in both the 100 back and the 50 from his 100 split.  He also achieved the PanAmerican Record for s14's in the 100 back!!  Richard won all four of his events, however he did not get his World Rankings high enough in the two Paralympic contested events (200 free & 100 back) to earn a spot on the US Team. 

Richard plans to continue to train and to work towards the next level of time standards in US Para Swimming so that he can earn a spot on National Teams in the future.  We are currently planning the next two years with making it to the 2014 Pan Pacific Champs in Australia becoming a large focus of Richards training.  Richard, his family, and I appreciate all of the well wishes and support from the team over the past weeks.  Thank You!

I am going to try to scour You Tube for some good video of the athletes that made the team so that everyone can get a good idea of the athleticism and skill of these incredibly talented athletes.  As I find these, I will post to Facebook.  Please take a moment to view these as they are posted to get a better understanding of the Paralympic movement. 

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