Swimmers Snyder, Meyers win Rio gold

Baltimore’s Brad Snyder and Timonium’s Becca Meyers won gold medals Saturday at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. Snyder, a former Navy swim captain who was blinded while serving in Afghanistan in 2011, won the S11 400-meter men’s freestyle a day after taking silver in the 100 backstroke. Snyder, who finished in 4 minutes, 28.78 seconds, has five Paralympic medals across two games. American Tharon Drake was second in 4:40.96. Snyder said the 400 is among his favorite races because it’s “where I feel most like my old self. I was a distance swimmer in college and that is the longest event we have at the Paralympics, so I feel like a distance swimmer again. I can get in my groove and keep that pace for a long time.” Meyers took the SM13 200-meter women’s individual medley in 2:24.66. “A lot of hard work went into that race, so I’m really pleased with the outcome,” said Meyers, a student at Franklin & Marshall. Silver medalist Fotimakhon Amilova of Uzbekistan was 0.57 behind. Meyers won the 200 IM in world-record time Thursday. Jessica Long of Baltimore was second in the SB7 100-meter women’s breaststroke, 4.81 seconds behind American Elizabeth Marks, who won in 1:28.13; Long’s medal was the 20th in an individual Paralympics event during her career, making her second all time among U.S. women. She has two silvers and a bronze medal in Rio. WHITEWATER CANOEING: Three-time Olympian Casey Eichfeld, a member of the Potomac Whitewater Racing Center in Dickerson who worked at Adventure Sports Center International in McHenry, earned his first international-race medal, a bronze in the men’s C1 at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He was 2.45 seconds behind Benjamin Savsek of Slovenia and 1.81 seconds behind Alexander Slafkovsky of Slovakia. The medal was the first in an individual World Cup event in C1 by an American in more than a decade. LACROSSE: US Lacrosse will continue its celebration of the opening of its national headquarters in Sparks today with a tripleheader today at William G. Tierney Field, featuring the U.S. women’s national team (10:15 a.m.), the U.S. men’s national team (1 p.m.) and a matchup between the Fire Department of the City of New York and the New York City Police Department (4 p.m.). For times, ticket information and more details, go to uslacrosse.org. NFL: The Detroit Lions released former Ravens linebacker Josh Bynes from injured reserve. WNBA: Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird scored 17 points apiece and the visiting Seattle Storm beat the Washington Mystics, 81-76, on Friday night in a showdown between teams battling for the final playoff spot. The Storm (14-17) won its third straight on the road to move into a tie for seventh place with the Phoenix Mercury, 11⁄2 games in front of the Mystics (12-18). WOMEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL: Towson (9-1) rallied for a 3-2 victory over Maryland (6-2) in its final match of the Georgetown Classic in Washington, winning, 25-13, 25-20, 22-25, 21-25, 15-13. The Tigers (9-1) won the tournament with a 3-0 weekend. Senior Jessica Lewis was named the tournament Most Valuable Player and was joined on the all-tournament team by sophomore Jocelyn Kuilan and redshirt sophomore Anna Holehouse (Fallston). The Terps later beat Georgetown, 25-23, 25-18, 25-22. COLLEGE FIELD HOCKEY: Sophomore Linnea Gonzales (Patterson Mill) scored twice as No. 7 Maryland (3-2) earned a 5-1 win over visiting California (0-4) in its home opener, part of the Terrapin Invitational. MEN’S COLLEGE SOCCER: Senior defender Alex Crognale scored in the 87th minute to give No. 5 Maryland (3-0-2) a 1-1 draw at No. 4 Indiana (3-0-2) in the Big Ten Conference opener Friday night. —