Rachel Grusse

Rachel Grusse is a 15-year old swimmer that is a bilateral below knee amputee. She is a sophomore at Glastonbury High School and has been a member of the girls swim team the past two seasons. Although she has never won an event in her high school tenure, she is an inspiration to her teammates. Due to a severe illness, Rachel had both legs amputated below the knees and lost the tips of her fingers when she was 16 months old. With the help of prosthetics, Rachel has been able to participate in various sports and activities such as soccer, biking and skiing. However, for her sport of choice, swimming, she competes without the prostheses. Although Rachel was introduced to water before her illness, she did not begin competing until she joined the Glastonbury town recreational team in 2003. In 2004 her coach recognized that Rachel had some potential and recommended that she join the USA Swim team. Rachel joined and pursued the additional swimming commitment despite never winning an able bodied event. In 2004, Rachel was introduced to Jean Karpuk and joined the Hospital for Special Care WAVES swim team for disabled swimmers. Not only was she now training with other disabled athletes; she could for the first time compete with athletes at her same level or classification. She found success at regional meets and was soon participating at the Junior National Disabled Swim Championships in Arizona in 2004 and in Florida in 2005. In 2005, Rachel was the first adapted swimmer from Connecticut to compete in the short course Eastern Zone Championship meet. Through her efforts at this able bodied meet she qualified to compete in the US Paralympics Swimming National Championships in San Antonio, Texas in July of 2006. It was at that meet that she earned the American record for the 200-meter backstroke in her S8 classification. Rachel was privileged this year to receive an invitation to join Team USA to compete in the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports world games this summer in New Jersey. After taking 6 months off due to scoliosis back surgery in February 2007, Rachel competed in the 2008 US Paralympics Swim Trials in Minnesota in April of this year. Although she did not make the 2008 US Paralympics team, she looks forward to many more successes in her swimming career. Rachel is currently ranked by the IPC in 400-meter freestyle, 100-meter backstroke and the 100-meter breaststroke. Rachel intends to swim throughout her high school career and hopes to continue to swim competively and for enjoyment and health throughout her lifetime.