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ElliotLakeToday has received the following report from Sarah Hebert on the progress of Elliot Lake para swimmer Alyssa Hebert, her daughter, as she charts a course toward her ultimate goal of competing in the Paralympics
Alyssa Hebert,16, a grade 11 student at Elliot Lake Secondary School attended a classification and associated swim meet from Dec. 1 - 5 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Para swimmers are assessed to test their physical functioning during their classification assessment. Alyssa has cerebral palsy which impairs her legs and left arm. The classification process allows her to compete against other swimmers who have similar functional impairments.
Being able to travel to Saskatoon allowed Alyssa to begin competing at a higher level.
To be able to attend this national level classification and swim meet Alyssa had to have at least one Can-Am time. Alyssa achieved Can-Am times in her 50m butterfly and 100m butterfly in 2019. She swims these events using just her right arm (no kick).
There were 20 para swimmers attending this classification/swim meet which allowed Alyssa to compete against other para swimmers varying in class from S2 to S14 for the first time.
Two other swimmers were in the same S5 classification as Alyssa. One swimmer, Jordan Tucker,19, who was there for her level three review, broke her previous Canadian record in the 50m butterfly by almost three seconds with a time of 53.65 seconds.
Alyssa remains in the same class S5SB5SM5, which was expected. She competed in the associated swim meet and obtained the best times in all her events. She took off 29 seconds in her 100m butterfly, three seconds in her 50m butterfly and 23 seconds in her 100m breaststroke.
The big news is that she took off 43 seconds in her 200m freestyle and 45 seconds in her 100m freestyle which gave her qualifying times for Can-Am’s in both these events! A fantastic performance by Alyssa.
A huge thank you to everyone who donated to help Alyssa participate in this event. Without your support, this weekend would not have been possible and Alyssa would not have been able to qualify for Can-Am’s in two more events.
THANK YOU :)