Oregon

LONG COLLECTS RECORDS IN 3 RACES, 7 GOLD MEDALS
July 28, 2005

Dundalk-Eastfield team member excels in Oregon

by Marge Neal

Jessica Long 2004 photo

Dundalk-Eastfield Swim Club member Jessica Long continues her march to the top of the nation's elite disabled swimmers.

The 13-year-old double amputee dominated the field during the U.S. National Paralympic Swim championship held in Gresham, Ore., on July 15-17.

Over the course of the three-day meet, Long got into the pool 13 times - including preliminary and final races - and touched the wall first each time, racking up seven gold medals and seven records.

She dominated the S8 competition - which pits her against athletes with similar disabilities - from the sprint distance of 50 meters through the grueling endurance distance of 1,500 meters.

She even defeated Erin Popovich - the star of the Athens games who won seven gold medals in seven attempts - in a rare head-to-head showdown in the 100-meter breaststroke.

Jessica Long preparing for a race during last summer's International Paralympic Games in Athens. photo by Joseph Kusumoto/USOC

Popovich, 20, is a woman of short stature and normally competes in a different classification than Long. But both swimmers competed in class SB7 for the breaststroke, and Long nudged out the older swimmer by just eight one-hundredths of a second in what must have been an exciting race to witness.

Dundalk-Eastfield club coach Stephanie Weisenborn, when told of the close margin of victory, said, "I would have loved to have seen it."

She said it was particularly rewarding to hear of such a dramatic win in the breaststroke, which Long avoided learning because she feared being disqualified in competition.

"It's a hard stroke to master, particularly without legs because it's a whip kick," Weisenborn said. "It's incredibly hard without the bottom parts of her legs."

In addition to beating Popovich, Jessica claimed gold in the 50-, 100-, 400- and 1,500-meter freestyle; the 100-meter backstroke; and the 200-meter individual medley.

En route to those seven medals, Jessica set new American and Pan-American records in the 100-meter backstroke (1 minute, 28.66 seconds) and the 200-meter individual medley (3:01.73). She also claimed another world record (as well as national and Pan-Am standards) with a time of 21:11.87 in the challenging 1,500-meter freestyle.

In the 200 IM, Jessica bettered her own mark by three seconds. She lowered the 100 breaststroke mark by more than a second.

The Oregonian, in its coverage of the meet, said Jessica was "perhaps the darling of the meet."

Paralympic swim team officials are pleased with Long's progress and where she stands for future competitions.

"Jessica had a really strong performance for a post-Games year and is well on her way to being prepared for World Championships in '06 and '08," Paralympic swim program manager Julie O'Neill said in an e-mail Tuesday.

Long apparently was pleased with her showing and feels it bodes well for her chances of representing her country at the next International Paralympics, set for 2008 in China.

"That's what I'm working for and where I'm putting my energy," she told The Oregonian.

Jessica, a native of Russia, is the daughter of Middle River residents Steve and Beth Long. Born without the long bones in her legs, she was adopted from a Russian orphanage in 1993. Surgery was performed here to amputate the misshapen feet that protruded from her legs about six inches below her knees and, thanks to prosthetics, the energetic, naturally gifted athlete hasn't stopped moving since.

She took to the swimming pool like the proverbial fish. She spent summer days swimming in the backyard pool at her grandmother's house where her prowess was so evident that taking formal lessons was the obvious next step.

The Dundalk-Eastfield Swim Club beckoned, and just 10 months after beginning her competitive swim career, she set five American records at a national swim meet for the disabled in Minnesota in June 2004.

In that same meet just a year later, she turned in performances that earned her a spot on the U.S. Paralympic swim team that represented the country in Athens.

She's come a long way in a short period of time and just gets better and better.

She is officially unattached to a swim club now, because she needed to join a club where she can get more swim time in, according to Weisenborn.

"As part of the Olympic program, Jess has to make so many practices and so many hours are required by the Olympic organization," she said. "The pool hours at the college are so limited she had to find another club."

Long has to remain unaffiliated with a club for four months before she can join another. When that time is up, she will join the Towson Merritt Athletic Club team.

But she won't be too homesick, because her new coach will be Andrew Barranco, who was an assistant coach with Dundalk-Eastfield before being hired by Merritt.

"I'm so proud of her," Weisenborn said of her protégé who is preparing to leave the nest. "She has worked very hard to be where she's at, and I wish the best for her. I was glad to get her where she is.

"Jess can do anything she sets her mind to do. And if she really wants something, watch out."