Women's Sports

Charlotte McKinley | Biola University

LA MIRADA, CALIF. — After seven years, countless surgeries and perseverance through suffering, Tokyo 2021 Paralympian Morgan Stickney will graduate from Biola University on May 5, 2023.

Stickney started college in 2016 ranked as a top-20 American freestyle swimmer and swam on Biola’s swim team as a freshman in 2016. Soon after, pain from a previously broken sesamoid bone in her left big toe quickly worsened leaving her unable to compete or swim. In 2017, she developed a staph infection in her foot and the then-20-year-old made the difficult decision to amputate her foot.

Just weeks after her surgery, Stickney was in the pool again. However, similar pain started in her right foot due to a mysterious cardiovascular condition that blocked blood flow to her lower legs. Stickney had to amputate her right foot and became a bilateral amputee.

Stickney kept training and won two Paralympic gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relay for the United States in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Recently, she set a new American record in the women’s S7 400 freestyle at the 2023 Citi Para Swimming World Series in Minneapolis. Throughout her training and suffering through surgeries and recovery, she continued to work on her college degree.

“Morgan’s courage, perseverance and deep faith in God have helped her persevere, and we are honored to present her with her hard-earned degree,” said Dr. Barry H. Corey, President of Biola.

Stickney will graduate with a B.S. in Applied Psychology on May 5, 2023 at 7 p.m.

CEO of the YouVersion Bible App, Bobby Gruenewald, is the commencement speaker for both of Biola’s Spring Commencement ceremonies. Gruenewald serves on the Leadership Team at Life.Church as the Pastor, Innovation Leader and Founder.

For those unable to attend in person, a live stream of the ceremonies will be available on the Biola website, and on Biola’s Facebook.

For more information or press passes, please contact Sarah Dougher, media relations coordinator, at sarah.m.dougher@biola.edu.

FOR MEDIA: Upon arrival to campus, please call (949) 521-1829.

Biola University

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La Mirada, CA 90639

James Sutherland | Swim Swam

Five world records fell during the second day of competition at the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, including Morgan Stickney obliterating one mark to give the United States its first gold medal of the competition.

Stickney, 26, put up a time of 4:54.28 to win gold in the women’s 400 free S7, knocking nearly five seconds off the previous world record in the process.

Stickney’s time broke the previous mark of 4:59.02 set by Australian Jacqueline Freney in 2012, and she also broke her own American Record of 5:03.16 set earlier this year in Minneapolis.

Three of Tuesday’s world records came in the 100 freestyle, with two male and one female marks going down.

In the men’s 100 free S4, Israel’s Ami Omer Dadaon clocked 1:18.94 to erase the record of 1:19.26 he set earlier this year at the Para Swimming World Cup in Berlin.

In the S6 category of the men’s 100 free, Italian Antonio Fantin also broke his own world record, bringing his 1:03.65 mark from last year’s Worlds down to 1:02.98 to successfully defend his title.

On the women’s side, China’s Jiang Yuyan brought the 100 free S6 record sub-1:11 for the first time, as she put up a time of 1:10.86 to knock off the previous mark she shared with Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Mereshko (1:11.07), with the two swimmers having tied for bronze (in the S7 category) in the event at the 2021 Paralympics.

The lone non-freestyle world record broken on the day came in the men’s 100 fly S11, where Ukraine’s Danylo Chufarov logged a time of 1:00.66 to lower the 15-year-old mark of 1:01.12 set by Spain’s Enhamed Enhamed in 2008.

With six gold and eight total medals after the opening day, Italy led the medal table early on, and they extended that on Tuesday, now sitting atop the heap with nine gold and 15 total medals.

Leading things off for Italy on the day was Federico Bicelli, who won the men’s 400 free S7 in a time of 4:40.55 to top Argentine Inaki Basiloff (4:40.96).

Following Bicelli’s lead for the Italians was Fantin, who claimed the men’s 100 free S6, and they also had a victory from Stefano Raimondi, who topped the men’s 200 IM SM10 in 2:10.41. Raimond’s win marked a successful title defense, having won the event last year in Portugal, and he also won silver in Tokyo.

China had a strong showing on the day, moving up to second on the medal table after winning four golds and seven total medals on Tuesday to bring their cumulative tally up to 7/17.

In addition to Jiang’s win in the women’s 100 free S6, China also had Lu Dong set a new Championship Record in the women’s 50 back S5 (38.21), and Yuan Weiyi topped the men’s 50 back S5 in a time of 32.73, leading a 1-2-3 sweep.

The Chinese team then capped the night off by winning the mixed 4×50 free relay 20pts in 2:18.58, setting a new Championship Record.

Great Britain also had a strong day, including a podium sweep in the women’s 100 back S14 as they rank third on the medal table, tied with China with seven golds while trailing by one in terms of overall medal count.

Read more: 2023 PARA WORLDS DAY 2: USA’S MORGAN STICKNEY SMASHES WORLD RECORD IN WOMEN’S S7 400 FR

MEDAL TABLE THROUGH DAY 2

RANK	NATION	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
1	Italy	9	2	4	15
2	China	7	6	4	17
3	Great Britain	7	4	5	16
4	Australia	4	3	3	10
5	Canada	4	0	2	6
6	Brazil	3	4	5	12
7	Ukraine	3	3	3	9
8	Germany	3	2	1	6
9	Netherlands	2	3	0	5
10	Hungary	2	0	0	2
11	Spain	1	5	4	10
12	United States	1	3	4	8
13	Mexico	1	2	0	3
14	Israel	1	0	1	2
15	Greece	1	0	0	1
	Republic of Korea	1	0	0	1
17	Japan	0	3	3	6
18	France	0	2	2	4
19	Argentina	0	1	3	4
20	Azerbaijan	0	1	1	2
	New Zealand	0	1	1	2
22	Colombia	0	1	0	1
	Croatia	0	1	0	1
	Ireland	0	1	0	1
	Kazakhstan	0	1	0	1
	South Africa	0	1	0	1
27	Cyprus	0	0	1	1
	Denmark	0	0	1	1
	Switzerland	0	0	1	1
	Turkiye	0	0	1	1

ALL DAY 2 MEDALISTS

Men’s 400 Freestyle S7

• Gold: Federico Bicelli (ITA) – 4:40.55
• Silver: Inaki Basiloff (ARG) – 4:40.96
• Bronze: Andrii Trusov (UKR) – 4:41.57

Women’s 400 Freestyle S7

• Gold: Morgan Stickney (USA) – 4:54.28 WR
• Silver: Ahalya Lettenberger (USA) – 5:22.27
• Bronze: Sabrina Duchesne (CAN) – 5:31.17

Men’s 100 Freestyle S4

• Gold: Ami Omer Dadaon (ISR) – 1:18.94 WR
• Silver: Cameron Leslie (NL) – 1:22.56
• Bronze: Takayuki Suzuki (JPN) – 1:22.91

Women’s 100 Freestyle S4

• Gold: Tanja Scholz (GER) – 1:22.18
• Silver: Lidia Vieira Da Cruz (BRA) – 1:29.43
• Bronze: Gina Boettcher (GER) – 1:30.31

Men’s 50 Backstroke S5

• Gold: Yuan Weiyi (CHN) – 32.73
• Silver: Wang Lichao (CHN) – 32.92
• Bronze: Guo Jincheng (CHN) – 33.71

Women’s 50 Backtroke S5

• Gold: Lu Dong (CHN) – 38.21
• Silver: He Shenggao (CHN) – 41.44
• Bronze: Sumeyye Boyaci (TUR) – 43.32

Men’s 150 IM SM3

• Gold: Ahmed Kelly (AUS) – 2:58.59
• Silver: Marcos Rafael Zarate Rodriguez (MEX) – 3:19.28
• Bronze: Emmanuele Marigliano (ITA) – 3:29.03

Women’s 150 IM SM3

• Gold: Tanja Scholz (GER) – 2:53.18 CR
• Silver: Marta Fernandez Infante (ESP) – 3:03.87
• Bronze: Ellie Challis (GBR) – 3:13.13

Men’s 100 Freestyle S6

• Gold: Antonio Fantin (ITA) – 1:02.98 WR
• Silver: Talisson Henrique Glock (BRA) – 1:04.73
• Bronze: Daniel Xavier Mendes (BRA) – 1:05.14

Women’s 100 Freestyle S6

• Gold: Jiang Yuyan (CHN) – 1:10.86 WR
• Silver: Anna Hontar (UKR) – 1:13.48
• Bronze: Nora Meister (SUI) – 1:14.45

Men’s 200 IM SM10

• Gold: Stefano Raimondi (ITA) – 2:10.41
• Silver: Col Pearse (AUS) – 2:13.68
• Bronze: Alexy Saffy (AUS) – 2:16.07

Women’s 200 IM SM10

• Gold: Bianka Pap (HUN) – 2:28.58
• Silver: Lisa Kruger (NED) – 2:30.15
• Bronze: Faye Rogers (GBR) – 2:31.50

Men’s 100 Back S8

• Gold: Inigo Llopis Sanz (ESP) – 1:05.32
• Silver: Kota Kubota (JPN) – 1:06.40
• Bronze: Sam Downie (GBR) – 1:08.36

Women’s 100 Back S8

• Gold: Alice Tai (GBR) – 1:12.11
• Silver: Xenia Francesca Palazzo (ITA) – 1:19.40
• Bronze: Tupou Neiufi (NZL) – 1:20.35

Men’s 100 Fly S11

• Gold: Keiichi Kimura (JPN)  – 1:03.66
• Silver: Uchu Tomita (JPN) – 1:04.28
• Bronze: Mykhailo Serbin (UKR) – 1:07.29

Men’s 100 Fly S12

• Gold: Douglas Matera (BRA) – 58.28
• Silver: Stephen Clegg (GBR) – 58.41
• Bronze: Raman Salei (AZE) – 58.73

Women’s 100 Fly S12

• Gold: Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago (BRA) – 1:05.68
• Silver: Maria Delgado Nadal (ESP) – 1:06.87
• Bronze: Alessia Berra (ITA) – 1:06.98

Men’s 100 Back S14

• Gold: Benjamin Hance (AUS) – 57.26 CR
• Silver: Gabriel Bandeira (BRA) – 59.05
• Bronze: Alexander Hillhouse (DEN) – 59.86

Women’s 100 Back S14

• Gold: Bethany Firth (GBR) – 1:05.80 CR
• Silver: Poppy Maskill (GBR) – 1:05.87
• Bronze: Georgia Sheffield (GBR) – 1:08.61

Men’s 100 Breast SB13

• Gold: Taliso Engel (GER) – 1:03.26 CR
• Silver: Nurdaulet Zhumagali (KAZ) – 1:05.16
• Bronze: David Henry Abrahams (USA) – 1:05.55

Women’s 100 Breast SB13

• Gold: Rebecca Redfern (GBR) – 1:15.01
• Silver: Colleen Young (USA) – 1:15.89
• Bronze: Olivia Chambers (USA) – 1:18.45

Men’s 200 IM SM9

• Gold: Timothy Hodge (AUS) – 2:12.74 CR
• Silver: Ugo Didier (FRA) – 2:17.15
• Bronze: Federico Morlacchi (ITA) – 2:21.26

Women’s 200 IM SM9

• Gold: Zsofia Konkoly (HUN) – 2:35.91
• Silver: Nuria Marques Soto (ESP) – 2:36.67
• Bronze: Sarai Gascon (ESP) – 2:37.13

Mixed 4×50 Free Relay 20pts

• Gold: China – 2:18.58 CR
• Silver: Brazil – 2:23.65
• Bronze: Ukraine – 2:25.93