Baltimore's Brad Snyder and Timonium's Becca Meyers returned to the top of the podium on Monday at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Meyers, a Notre Dame Prep graduate, won her third gold medal of the Rio Games with a world-record time of 4 minutes, 19.59 seconds in the 400-meter S13. Ukraine's Anna Stetsenko was second in 4:24.18. Meyers previously won the 200 IM S13 and set a Paralympic record with gold in the 100 butterfly S13.
Snyder, a former Navy swim captain who was blinded while serving in Afghanistan in 2011, won his second gold in Rio, winning the men's 50 S11 freestyle in 25.57 seconds. Keiichi Kimura of Japan took silver in 26.52.
"I have to adopt a certain aggressive, never-say-die mentality and that really paid off in that 50 because it didn't really go the way I had envisioned nor the way it went this morning," Snyder said. "I definitely had a lot more contact with the lane line. But by not taking the race for granted I was able to get to the wall first."
Snyder, who lives in Canton and trains at Loyola Maryland, was the silver medalist in the event in London in 2012.
Track and field: Four athletes finished the T12/13 1,500-meter race for the visually impaired on Sunday faster than the United States' Matthew Centrowitz (Broadneck) did in his gold-medal performance in the same event at the Olympics. Abdellatif Baka of Algeria won the gold medal in 3 minutes, 48.29 seconds, followed by Tamiru Demisse of Ethiopia (3:48.59), Henry Kirwa of Kenya (3:49.59) and Fouad Baka of Algeria, brother of Abdellatif, (3:49.84). Centrowitz finished in 3:50.
Wheelchair basketball: Gail Gaeng of Frederick and the U.S. women remained perfect in pool play and earned the No. 1 seed in the knockout round with a 65-15 win over Algeria. The U.S. will face Brazil in the quarterfinals today.
Et cetera
Medical redshirt an option for Navy's Smith, coach says
Last week's surgery to repair the torn ACL in Tago Smith's right knee "went well," according to Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, who indicated that the Midshipmen might seek a medical redshirt for Smith, the starting quarterback who suffered the season-ending knee injury early in the second quarter of the season opener against Fordham. "We'll look into what all the options are," Niumatalolo said. Asked if a medical redshirt request was on the table, Niumatalolo said: "It's an option, but we don't know. We'll work through all that and see how it pans out." Since Smith played in just over one quarter this season it's likely the NCAA would grant a fifth year of eligibility, but Smith must decide whether he wants to delay his graduation, and Naval Academy officials must determine whether his injury and subsequent recovery require Smith to withdraw from classes. "It's all case-by-case so we would need to present that," Niumatalolo said.
—Bill Wagner, Baltimore Sun Media Group
More college football: Navy freshman safety Alohi Gilman was named the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week and senior quarterback Will Worth was named to the honor roll. … Towson senior wide receiver Christian Summers was named Colonial Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Week. … Bowie State junior Victor Tamba Jr. (Northwestern High) was selected Offensive Lineman of the Week, freshman Amir Hall Quarterback of the Week, senior Nyme Manns (Patterson) Receiver of the Week, sophomore Maurice Williams (St. Frances) Running Back of the Week and Damon Wilson Coach of the Week by the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Men's college basketball: UMBC will open its season on Nov. 11 at home against Hood. The Retrievers' schedule also includes games at UMES (Nov. 13), at Navy (Nov. 23), at Mount St. Mary's (Dec. 7) and vs. Towson (Nov. 17).