McKenzie Coan Starts Loyola Career With Two S8 American Records

American Paralympian McKenzie Coan has started off her college career with a bang. Joining the impressive disability-swimming training group that Brian Loeffler has amassed as a part of his NCAA Division I varsity program is already paying dividends for the native Georgian Coan, with two American Records in her first intercollegiate meet.

Official results haven’t been released yet for the second day of the two-day quad, but Coan broke both records during the 1650 freestyle on Saturday. At the 1000 yard mark, she split a 12:36.48, and then finished in 20:58.32. At the 1000, that broke the S8 1000 free record held by Brickelle Bro at 12:48.81, and she would continue on to break the S8 1650 free record of 21:05.52 held by Jessica Long back in 2005.

Those are both lifetime bests for Coan, who was a member of the 2012 U.S. Paralympic team. She was reclassified at Nationals in March of this year from an S9 to an S8, but still holds the S8 American Records in both the 400 SCM freestyle and 100 SCM IM’s.