Illinois, LAS Paralympians begin competition in Rio

Several Illinois alumni, including five from the College of LAS, will be vying for medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

Several Illinois students and alumni, including several from LAS, begin competition today in the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Several Illinois students and alumni, including several from LAS, begin competition today in the 2016 Summer Paralympics.

The 2016 Paralympics start today in Rio de Janeiro, and several athletes and coaches from U of I and the College of LAS will be participating. You can watch live stream events on Paralympic.org and on NBC Sports. Competitor Hannah McFadden will be taking followers behind the scenes of the Paralympics on the #ILLINOIS Snapchat account.

A list of Illinois Paralympians follows. The five alumni and one who attended LAS have been highlighted.

Note: The College of LAS interviewed two Paralympians, Adam Bleakney (BA, ’00, English) and Josh George (BS, ’07, journalism) in 2014 as part of the Storyography project. The pair discussed Illinois’ world-renowned tradition of wheelchair athletics, past Paralympics, and innovative coaching. You can see the transcript here.

Women's and men's track and field 

*Brian Siemann (BA, ’13, English; EDM, ’15, special education): 100, 400, 800

Raymond Martin, student: 100, 400, 1500

*Aaron Pike (BA, ’11, sociology): 1500, marathon

James Senbeta, alumnus: 800, 5000, marathon

Joshua George, alumnus: 400, 800, 1500, 5000, marathon

Gyu Dae Kim (representing South Korea), Parkland student enrolling this spring: 400, 800, 1500, 5000, marathon

Chelsea McClammer, student: 400, 800, 1500, 5000 and marathon

Kelsey LeFevour, graduate student: 100, 400, 800

Hannah McFadden, student: 100, 400

Tatyana McFadden, graduate student: 100, 400, 800, 1500, 5000 and marathon

Susannah Scaroni, alumna: 800, marathon

*Amanda McGrory (BS, ’10, psychology), currently a graduate student in the School of Information Science: 800, 1500, 5000, marathon

*Adam Bleakney (BA, ’00, English), USA Wheelchair Track head coach 

Peter Park, USA Wheelchair Track equipment technician

Daniel Romanchuk (high school student) who trains with the Illini year-round, will also be traveling to Rio.

 

Women’s wheelchair basketball

Gail Gaeng, alumna 

*Megan Blunk (BS, ’14, psychology), currently a graduate student in the School of Social Work

Tracey Ferguson, alumna (representing Canada)

Helen Freeman, alumna (representing Great Britain)

Christina Schwab, alumna

Stephanie Wheeler, head coach of the U.S. Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team

 

Men's wheelchair basketball 

*Brian Bell, attended Illinois

Nik Goncin, alumnus (representing Canada)

Adam Lancia, alumnus (representing Canada)

Hiroaki Kozai, alumnus (representing Japan)

Steve Serio, alumnus

Jonathan Vermette, attended Illinois (representing Canada)

 

Quad Rugby

Kevin Orr, alumnus: Head Coach of the Canadian Quad Rugby Team

 

Rowing

Edina Mueller, alumna (representing Germany)

 

Sitting Volleyball

Kari Miller, attended Illinois

 

Tennis

Dylan Alcott, attended Illinois (representing Australia)