Timonium para-swimmer Becca Meyers wins 2015 ESPY for Best Female Athlete with a Disability

Paralympic swimmer Becca Meyers of Timonium, who two days ago broke a world record, continued her impressive roll Wednesday night, winning the ESPY Award for the Best Female Athlete with a Disability.

"It was an incredible honor to be nominated. I'm still in awe that I won last night. It still hasn't hit me yet," Meyers said this morning in quotes forwarded to The Baltimore Sun from Glasgow, Scotland, where on Tuesday she broke her world record in the women's 200-meter individual medley S13 at the International Paralympic Committee World Championships.

"It's amazing. It's been a roller coaster the past couple of years and I'm still on it. I know I still have more to accomplish and I look at all of this as just the beginning. I'm still in shock about the award."

The Notre Dame Prep alumna beat out four other nominees, including Tatyana McFadden, a sit-skier-wheelchair racer from Clarksville who attended Atholton, and Greta Neimanas, a cyclist who moved to Annapolis in November and works as a sales associate at The Bike Doctor.

Meyers, 20, who attends Franklin & Marshall, was born deaf and was diagnosed with Usher syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes gradual balance and vision loss.

"It's amazing how being nominated and winning for Paralympics brings a lot of awareness to the sport [of swimming]," she said. "That's one of the reasons I do this is to raise awareness and give back. If you asked me five years ago, I wouldn't have believed I'd be in this position [to win an ESPY and give back]. It's a roller coaster and I'm still on the ride enjoying it."

Meyers, who was preparing to swim today in the preliminaries for the women's 400-meter freestyle S13 race, had a message for her hometown.

"Thank you so much for voting for me," Meyers said. "I can't put into words my love and appreciation for everyone, especially back in Baltimore."

In 2014, Meyers set two world records (400 freestyle and 200 IM) and earned six medals (four gold, two silver) at the Pan Pacific Para-Swimming Championships.

andy.knobel@baltsun.com

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