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Jessica Long Leads 31 American Swimmers Nominated for Paralympics

U.S. PARALYMPIC TEAM TRIALS

The United States Olympic Committee has announced the American roster that will swim at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Included among the swimmers are 12-time Paralympic medalist Jessica Long. Among the biggest names missing, however, are World Record holder Ian Silverman, who announced yesterday that he was withdrawing from consideration for the team.

Also making the team is one of the country’s new stars, Michelle Konkoly, who set the S9 50 meter freestyler World Record this weekend in Charlotte.

Click here to see full coverage of the 2016 championships.

The full press release, and roster, courtesy of the USOC, are below:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Paralympics, a division of the United States Olympic Committee, today announced the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team after three days of intense racing in Charlotte, North Carolina, filling the roster with 21 women and 10 men. Seventeen athletes heading to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games have Paralympic Games experience, resulting in 14 fresh faces who are looking to turn heads in the sport’s ultimate competition. The team will also feature two U.S. military service members, one a retired Navy veteran and one active duty member currently serving in the United States Army.

Twelve-time Paralympic gold medalist Jessica Long (Baltimore, Md.), Rudy Garcia-Tolson (Bloomington, Calif.) and Cody Bureau (Latrobe, Pennsylvania) are the only swimmers on the team able to say their Paralympic Games career stretches back to the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games. All three have been named to their fourth U.S. Paralympic Team with the trio all having competed in 2012, 2008 and 2004.

Cortney Jordan (Henderson, Nevada), Noga Nir-Kistler (Allentown, Pennsylvania), Tucker Dupree (Raleigh, North Carolina) and Roy Perkins (San Diego, California) will all be representing Team USA for the third time, having seen action in both London and Beijing.

Brickelle Bro (Castle Pines, Colorado), McKenzie Coan (Clarkesville, Georgia), Alyssa Gialamas (Naperville, Illinois), Letticia Martinez (Las Cruces, New Mexico), Rebecca Meyers (Baltimore, Maryland), Mallory Weggemann (Eagan, Minnesota), Colleen Young (St. Louis, Missouri), Evan Austin (Terre Haute, Indiana), Dalton Herendeen (Elkhart, Indiana) and retired Navy veteran Brad Snyder (Baltimore, Maryland) will all return for their second Games.

Athletes making their Games debut include Hannah Aspden (Raleigh, North Carolina), Haley Bernabaum (Snohomish, Washington), Reilly Boyt (Fort Collins, Colorado), Cailin Currie (Danvers, Massachusetts), McClain Hermes (Dacula, Georgia), Sophia Herzog (Fairplay, Colorado), Michelle Konkoly (Eagleville, Pennsylvania), U.S. Army Sgt. Elizabeth Marks (Prescott Valley, Arizona), Marth Ruether (Allegany, New York), Natalie Sims (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Elizabeth Smith (Muncie, Indiana), Tharon Drake (Hobbs, New Mexico), Tye Dutcher (Merced, California) and Robert Griswold (Freehold, New Jersey).

There are a combined 19 gold, 8 silver and 12 bronze Paralympic Games medals among the 31 athletes, with Long pacing the field at 12 golds. Her 14 world records, long course and short course, also lead all swimmers. As a whole, the group owns a combined 39 world records factoring in both long course and short course distances.

Twenty-five athletes on the roster are currently ranked in the top 10 in the world across 89 events with six swimmers being in the top 10 on the planet in five or more events.

The United States Resident Team based at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado will have nine representatives heading to Rio, including five women (Beranbaum, Herzog, Marks, Martinez and Ruether) and four men (Austin, Drake, Dutcher and Garcia-Tolson).

Aspden, Sims and Dutcher are three members of the 2016 emerging team to qualify for Rio.

Below is a detailed roster of the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team:

Name Classification Hometown
Women
Hannah Aspden S9, SB8, SM9 Raleigh, N.C.
Haley Beranbaum S5, SB5, SM5 Snohomish, Wash.
Reilly Boyt S6, SB6, SM6 Fort Collins, Colo.
Brickelle Bro S8, SB7, SM8 Castle Pines, Colo.
McKenzie Coan S7, SB7, SM7 Clarkesville, Ga.
Cailin Currie S13, SB13, SM13 Danvers, Mass.
Alyssa Gialamas S5, SB5, SM5 Naperville, Ill.
McClain Hermes S12, SB12, SM12 Dacula, Ga.
Sophia Herzog S6, SB6, SM6 Fairplay, Colo.
Cortney Jordan S7, SB7, SM7 Henderson, Nev.
Michelle Konkoly S9, SB9, SM9 Eagleville, Pa.
Jessica Long S8, SB7, SM8 Baltimore, Md.
Elizabeth Marks S8, SB7, SM8 Prescott Valley,,Ariz./U.S. Army
Letticia Martinez S11, SB11, SM11 Las Cruces, N.M.
Rebecca Meyers S13, SB13, SM13 Baltimore, Md.
Noga Nir-Kistler S6, SB5, SM6 Allentown, Pa.
Martha Ruether S13, SB13, SM13 Allegany, N.Y.
Natalie Sims S9, SB9, SM9 Minneapolis, Minn.
Elizabeth Smith S9, SB9, SM9 Muncie, Ind.
Mallory Weggemann S8, SB7, SM8 Eagan, Minn.
Colleen Young S13, SB13, SM13 St. Louis, Mo.
Men
Evan Austin S8, SB7, SM8 Terre Haute, Ind.
Cody Bureau S9, SB9, SM9 Latrobe, Pa.
Tharon Drake S11, SB11, SM11 Hobbs, N.M.
Tucker Dupree S12, SB12, SM12 Raleigh, N.C.
Tye Dutcher S10, SB9, SM10 Merced, Calif.
Rudy Garcia-Tolson S8, SB7, SM7 Bloomington, Calif.
Robert Griswold S8, SB7, SM8 Freehold, N.J.
Dalton Herendeen S10, SB8, SM10 Elkhart, Ind.
Roy Perkins S5, SB4, SM5 San Diego, Calif.
Bradley Snyder S11, SB11, SM11 Baltimore, Md.

All qualifications and nominations to the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team are pending approval by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

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Really?
8 years ago

Konkoly an S9 with 4 working limbs? Seems strange that a few years of training has her beating amputee times that have taken athletes their whole career to achieve.

Spot on
Reply to  Really?
8 years ago

Agreed, even S10 is a stretch.

Be respectful
Reply to  Really?
8 years ago

Sounds like something you should take up with her personally, if you are brave enough to make those kinds of allegations to someone without the mask of internet anonymity.

I included the link to her Facebook page, should you want to get in touch.

https://www.facebook.com/michellekonkoly/?fref=ts

Until then, I ask that you stop using an article meant to celebrate a country’s team, to slander the athletes being celebrated.

By the way, congratulations to all of the athletes that made it. To the ones who didn’t, you should hold your head up–you gave it everything you had, and those types of learning experiences, although painful, are never in vain.

Swimmer91
Reply to  Be respectful
8 years ago

Then what do you say to an S9 amputee who has times that would qualify them to be on the team, but isn’t going because Konkoly is taking an S9 spot.

Kay
8 years ago

Great job Mckenzie !! Congrats Your hard work has really paid off.
Good luck in RIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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