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player ready...A Naperville Central High School graduate nabbed a gold medal in men’s swimming Wednesday at the Pan Am games.
Sean Lehane, a 20-year-old Bolingbrook resident who graduated from Naperville Central in 2012, took gold in the men’s 200 meter backstroke event with a mark of 1:57.47 at the games, which are being held in Toronto, according to the event’s website.
It was a doubly good day for Lehane, who is a senior-to-be at the University of Tennessee. He also set a Pan Am record in the event during the first heat earlier in the day, when he ended with a mark of 1:57.11, according to the site.
Lehane told the Naperville Sun last week that he hoped the Pan Am games would be some solid international experience before the Olympic Trials.
This is Lehane’s second international competition and he said he hoped to medal in the “200 back.”
“This race has been my specialty,” he said.
Lehane was a member of the Redhawks 2010 state championship team, and took home state titles in the 100-yard backstroke in 2011 and 2012.
His success has continued at Tennessee, where he is a 13-time All-American. Lehane, is also a two-time SEC champion and the school record-holder in the 200 backstroke, placing second at the 2015 NCAA Championships. He was selected for the U.S. Pan Am team based on his times at last year’s USA Nationals.
“His dream is to be an Olympian,” his mother, Christine, told the Sun. “He’s wanted that ever since he knew what an Olympian was. He’s a very hard worker. Anything he sets his mind to do, he always goes 110 percent.”
In other Naperville swimming news, Neuqua Valley High School alum Gia Dalesandro placed 6th in the women’s 100-meter butterfly final on Thursday.
The Indiana junior is a two-time Big Ten champion in the 200 fly, clocked a 59.24 in the final.
The 20-year-old was scheduled to compete in the women’s 4×100 meter medley relay Saturday, according to the event’s web site.
Twitter: @JournoGeoffZ