SANTIAGO, Chile – UNI sophomore Cali Prochaska claimed a pair of gold medal finishes for Team USA along with one silver and one bronze medal, wrapping up a successful week of competition at the 2023 Parapan American Games in Chile on Friday.
The Parapan American Games are an international multi-sports event held every four years for athletes with disabilities, bringing together athletes from North, South and Central American countries in a quadrennial event held the year prior to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Prochaska (pictured above via UINI Athletics), a Fort Wayne, Indiana native with proximal femoral focal disorder in her left leg and hip, opened her second Parapan American Games on Sunday with a first-place finish in the SM9 200-meter individual medley’s direct final with a time of 2:53.88, finishing 0.57 seconds ahead of teammate Keegan Knott. In Monday’s S9 100-meter butterfly final, Prochaska recorded another razor tight finish with a winning time of 1:13.54 to edge out Argentina’s Daniela Gimenez for gold.
Prochaska returned to the pool on Wednesday the S9 400-meter freestyle, entering the preliminary heats with the second-fastest seed time in the field. After clocking a 5:11.14 in the first preliminary heat, Prochaska would shave off another 2.98 seconds off her time with a 5:08.16 to earn silver in a podium sweep by the United States with Knott winning gold and Madelyn White taking bronze.
Prochaska wrapped up her four-event week on Friday morning with a bronze medal finish in the SB8 100-meter breaststroke, finishing 5.45 seconds behind White who won gold.
Prochaska made her debut with the UNI swimming and diving team this fall in a dual at Iowa and at the Coyote Extravaganza. A young para swimmer who has competed previously on the national stage in multiple U.S. Paralympic Swimming National Championship meets, she previously placed fourth in the S9 classification for the 100-meter butterfly at the 2019 Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru.
Prochaska returns to action December 15-17 alongside fellow para swimmer Olivia Chambers at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming National Championships at the Rosen Aquatic and Fitness Center in Orlando, Florida.
