The U.S. Paralympic swimming team came out strong on day one of competition, breaking two world records and two Paralympic records in the morning preliminary rounds at the National Aquatics Center. In the men’s 200m individual medley (IM) (SM7), Rudy Garcia-Tolson (Colorado Springs, Colo./Bloomington, Calif.) beat his former world record by nearly three seconds with a time of 2:37.80. First-time Paralympian Amanda Everlove (Colorado Springs, Colo./Wichita, Kan.) also broke a world record, finishing the women’s 100m butterfly (S8) in 1:11.64. Everlove went on to win the Silver Medal in the finals of the women's 100 M fly.

“I was feeling ready to swim, so just went out and gave it all I could," said Everlove.
"I expected to do really well and I couldn’t be happier. I’m focused on staying in first place tonight for the finals.”

Click the video box to watch Ben Arnet's feature on Amanda Everlove and her teammate Jarrett Perry from last month as they prepared for the Paralympics in Beijing.