Glacier Peak sophomore competes at Paralympic Trials

Published 11:05 pm Monday, June 18, 2012

Haley Beranbaum, a sophomore at Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish, competed at the United States Paralympic Trials in Bismarck, N.D., over the weekend.

Beranbaum, a swimmer, did not make the U.S. team for the 2012 Paralympics, scheduled for late August through mid-September in London, but she did win one gold medal and three silver medals while swimming personal bests in all her events. Athletes were chosen for the London team based on a selection process and not on placings during the trials.

Finishing first in the preliminaries of the 200-meter individual medley in the S5 class (for swimmers with full use of their arms and hands, but little use of their trunk or leg muscles and some degree of coordination difficulty), Beranbaum had a time of 4:26.03. That mark broke the American record for her level of disability and earned her a place on the U.S. national team.

Later that night, Beranbaum was even better in the finals, winning in 4:25.09.

Beranbaum will be one of 15 American para-swimmers at the 2012 Canadian Para-Swimming World Challenge, which is being held in conjunction with the Canada Cup, July 3-9 in Montreal.

Beranbaum was born with a genetic aberration called achondroplasia, which results in dwarfism.