An Okotoks Stingray found plenty of gold at the home of the Golden Gophers.
Eighteen-year-old Kirstie Kasko won seven gold medals at the Can-Am Paralympic Spring Swimming Nationals April 7-9 at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
“I trained quite a bit, but I tapered the last week,” Kasko said. “Todd (Stingrays coach Todd Melton) didn’t want me to swim a lot before (the meet).”
The work and the rest paid off.
She finished first in the 100m and 200m backstroke, the 100m and 200m breaststroke, the 100m and 200m freestyle and the 200m IM in her category.
Kasko is classified as a S-14 swimmer for the Paralympics, which means she has suffered from a brain injury.
Her goal is to qualify for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, England. The Paralympics will be held immediately after the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
She might want to make sure her passport is up to date. So far things are going swimmingly.
Kasko already has the Paralympics’ qualifying time in the three swimming events for S-14 athletes, the 100m breaststroke, 100m backstroke and 200m freestyle. She is ranked seventh in the world in both the 100m breaststroke and 100m backstroke and 12th in the 200m freestyle.
Her best events in the past have been the breaststroke and the backstroke.
Her impressive performance in the freestyle came not as surprise, but through hard work and coaching.
“I was able to take seven seconds off my 200m freestyle time (2:33.12) and it was on a long-course,” she said. “I’m not sure how I did it, but it I even beat my short-course time.”
Long course is in a 50m pool, while short course is 25m. Short course times are usually faster because the swimmer has more opportunity to push off the walls on their turns.
She also had a personal best in the 100m freestyle.
She credited swimming with the Stingrays for her success.
“It helps me a lot because I have a coach (Todd Melton) who knows what he is doing and he has very high expectations for me,” Kasko said. “I don’t always know what I am capable of and he always tests me to see what I am capable of. He knows where I need to improve and where I don’t have to improve.”
Her next event is in Gatineau, Quebec in July. The meet is a qualifier for the Pan-Am Paralympics in Mexico.
However, for the next 12 months she will be focused on trying to make Canada’s Paralympics team for 2012.
