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Covenant Swimmer Sets Freestyle Record
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (June 25, 2003) - Elizabeth Stone of First Evangelical Covenant
Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, won three events at the recent USA
Disability National swimming championships in Minneapolis, setting an
American record in the 1,500-meter freestyle race.
Stone celebrated her 13th birthday and the following day began competing by
winning the 100-meter backstroke, finishing second in the 800-meter
freestyle and placing fourth in the 50-meter freestyle. She swam the
200-meter backstroke, placing first, and also placed third in the 400-meter
freestyle that same day.
Stone qualified for the finals in two events - the 100-meter freestyle and
100-meter butterfly - and then won the 1,500-meter freestyle finals in 23
minutes, 45.61 seconds, breaking her own record by two minutes. She then
placed third in the finals of both
the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly events, ending her busy weekend.
Elizabeth was born with Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency - her femur is
extremely short - and she had four surgeries to correct the situation. She
later had her foot amputated, according to her mother, Linda. This
disability qualifies her as a S-9 swimmer (those with above-knee or
below-elbow amputations are also in that category).
A seventh grader at West Side Christian School in Grand Rapids, Stone has
been a competitive swimmer for four years and plays wheelchair basketball
during the winter, competing with a team that finished third in the nation
in the junior division.
Although she often swims in competitions for the disabled, Stone normally
competes with an able-bodied USA Swimming club team in Grand Rapids called
the Rockford Riptide and has competed favorably with girls in her age
group. In March, she was clocked at the "A" level times in the 50
backstroke and 200 backstroke, which put her among the best in Michigan in
the 11-12-year old division.
After swimming with her club team this summer, Stone will compete in
another national disabled swim meeting in Indianapolis. The event will be
held November 29-30 in the aquatic center at Indiana University/Purdue
University-Indianapolis (IUPUI). She will also attempt to qualify for the
Paralympics Games in Athens, Greece, September 17-28, 2004, by competing at
the 2004 U.S. Paralympics Swimming Trials.
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