MINNEAPOLIS — Two Warner Robins Aquanauts are taking on the Paralympic qualifiers for a chance to go to France.
William Rankine and Vica Beelner have been competing for a spot on the U.S. team’s Paralympic roster at the University of Minnesota’s Jean K Freeman Aquatic Center. If the two qualify, they’ll join the 33-person team that will attend the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
"We are incredibly proud of William and Vica as they prepare to compete at this elite level," Wes Hamborg, Warner Robins Aquanauts head coach Wes Hambord said. "Their dedication and hard work have been inspiring to witness. They embody the spirit of overcoming challenges and achieving excellence."
Rankine, a Houston County graduate, currently attends Grove City College. He recently finished his freshman season there. He recently, according to the U.S. Paralympics Swmimming’s website, won a silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke SB12 and a bronze medal in the 200-meter individual medley.
He previously set a U.S. Paralympic record in the SB12 200 meter breaststroke and, in 2021, he broke the SB12 100-meter backstroke.
Classifications, which are the SB12 part of the event, are unique to the Paralympics. The website described the different classifications.
World Paralympic Swimming recognizes three different types of impairments: physical, intellectual and visual.
These are broken further down into classes, with classes one through 10 being for physical impairments. 10 is the lowest, while 1 is the highest amount of impairment.
Classes 11 through 13 are for swimmers with visual impairments. 11 is the greatest amount of vision loss, while 13 is the least amount.
Rankine’s classification of 12 means he has a medium amount of vision impairment. He uses tapping, where people stand on the side of the pool to help him and other vision impaired swimmers know when to flip over and continue racing or stop swimming.
The SB part of his classification comes down to the sport. S is for freestyle, SM is for individual medley and SB is for backstroke.
He competed in the 100 meter breaststroke and the 100 meter backstroke on Thursday, while he competed in the 100 meter freestyle on Friday.
Rankine had finals times of 1:17.04 in the backstroke and a time of 1:17:56 in the breaststroke. Both of these placed second behind Evan Wilkerson and David Abrahams, respectively.
He did get the advantage over Wilkerson in the freestyle, as he finished with a finals time of 58.29 — narrowly overcoming his opponents time of 58.32.
Rankine is set to compete in the 100 meter butterfly and 50 meter freestyle events on Saturday. In the preliminary races, he finished in second behind Wilkerson with a 1:05:61 time in the 100 butterfly and was the only person who competed in the 50 freestyle.
His teammate Beelner competed the same days. She currently attends Emmanuel College, where she just completed her junior season.
The Tapestry Public Charter School alumni won the 200 meter individual medley at the 2018 Paralympic Nationals, finished second in the 50 meter butterfly and third in the 50 meter freestyle, 200 meter freestyle and 50 meter backstroke.
She won a Paralympic national title with the Dynamo Swim Club in 2019 and took first in the 50 butterfly, second in the 100 breaststroke, third in the 50 backstroke and fourth in the 100 meter freestyle.
In the most recent Paralympic Nationals in December 2023, she placed second in the 50 backstroke with a time of 1:11.07.
This is Beelner’s first time competing at the Paralympic Team Trials since 2016 when she was 15 years old.
The 3-foot-2 swimmer competed in the S5 50 butterfly on Thursday and the S5 50 backstroke on Friday. She was the only swimmer competing in either event and finished with a final time of 1:08:28 and 1:11:49 in the backstroke.
Beelner will compete in the 200 meter individual medley on Saturday. In the preliminary race, she, once again the only competitor in her heat, finished with a time of 5:33.18.
A list of the full results per day can be found here:
Full Results
According to the Warner Robins Aquanauts Facebook, Rankine will compete in the 100 butterfly at 6:28 p.m. and the 50 freestyle at 8:21 p.m. Beelner will compete sometime after 6 p.m.
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