Recording A Freestyle Testing Meter

Bulldog swimmers Nauta, Romano help US earn relay gold

SHENZHEN, China – With Georgia swimmers making up half the team, the United States’ women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay won the gold medal in record-setting fashion Wednesday at the World University Games.

Ex-Lady Bulldog Chelsea Nauta and rising junior Megan Romano swam the second and fourth legs, respectively, of the relay, which stopped the clock in 7:55.02. That eclipsed the World University Games record by nearly two seconds. China, which led the first 600 meters before Romano entered the water, came in second in 7:59.62.

“I couldn’t be happier here representing the U.S. at the Games and being part of this relay,” Nauta said. “This is the first record the United States has set here in Shenzhen, so I’m very honored to be part of it.”

The medal was the third earned by Romano at the World University Games. She came in third in the women’s 400-meter freestyle with a time of 55.38. Romano and rising sophomore Shannon Vreeland helped the 4×100-meter relay come in second in 3:40.19.

Earlier in the World University Games, ex-Bulldog Matt Bartlett picked up a gold medal as a member of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. That team stopped the clock in 7:13.54.

Swimming: Becherer grabs national record, five medals | The ...

By Anthony Gulizia, News Staff

Varsity swimmer Kelley Becherer made a big splash in Edmonton, Canada last weekend, winning four medals and setting an American record at the 2011 Pan Pacific Para-Swimming championships.

Becherer, a junior who has been swimming since she was seven-years-old, was born visually impaired and has competed at the Paralympic level since she was 13.

“I think being born with it has helped me,” she said. “I’m used to adapting around it and [swimming] comes natural to me. Sometimes I’ll miss a turn if I don’t practice, but I’ll get in the pool two or three times before a race, plus my warm-up to get used to the pool.”

To be legally blind, a person’s vision needs to be 20/200, in comparison to the normal 20/20.

Becherer’s vision is 20/500, which means when she is standing 20 feet away from something, she sees it the same as a perfectly-visioned person who is standing 500 feet away.

Becherer, who is looking to represent the United States at the 2012 London Paralympics, took home first place in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 27.84, beating her own record, which was set in 2008 at the Beijing Paralympics.

“I wasn’t focused on breaking the record,” Becherer said. “But when I did it, I was really happy – I haven’t been under 28 [seconds] since Beijing. It wasn’t the same atmosphere as Beijing, which pumped me up more because of the higher-level energy in the crowd. But I was happily surprised with how fast I swam [in Canada].”

The Sheboygan, Wisc., native also finished first in the 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter backstroke with times of 1:00.17 and 1:11.48, respectively.

She  finished with a pair of second-place finishes in the 100-meter butterfly (1:07.88) and the 200-meter individual medley (2:33.85).

Becherer was out-touched by .7 seconds in the 200-meter individual medley.

“While I’m swimming, I can’t see my competitors unless they’re on my right side,” Becherer said. “I thought my opponent [in Canada] was two body lengths ahead of me, so I thought the race was over and didn’t realize how close she was.

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