Medals and records in Rio for Snyder, Coan

Brad Snyder, a former Navy swim team captain who was blinded in Afghanistan in 2011, set an American record in the S11 100 backstroke and shared the silver medal on the second day of competition at the Paralympics on Friday in Rio de Janeiro. Snyder, who lives in Canton and trains with coach Brian Loeffler at Loyola Maryland, finished in 1 minute, 8.28 seconds, tying Poland’s Wojciech Makowski. Ukraine’s Dmytro Zalevskyi won in1: 06.66. The previous American record of 1:09.23 was set by John Morgan 24 years earlier to the day. Snyder, a freestyle specialist, will compete today in the 400 free, where he’s the defending gold medalist. The 100 backstroke “is evidence my work is paying off. Same basic race strategy, same distance, same stroke as London [in 2012] and that is three seconds faster. I’m very happy to come away with a medal in that event, an ‘off event.’ ” WOMEN: Loyola Maryland junior McKenzie Coan claimed her first gold medal for Team USA, setting a Paralympic record in the S7 50meter freestyle. Coan, from Clarksville, Ga., finished in 32.57 seconds in the morning preliminary, then bettered that time in the final, touching first in 32.42. “I am so excited for my first major medal to be gold. It is absolutely insane,” she said. Germany’s Denise Grahl won silver in 33.16, and Great Britain’s Susannah Rodgers won bronze in 33.26. Cortney Jordan, who graduated from Loyola with a master’s degree in 2016 and trains under Loeffler, finished fourth in 33.33. ... Jessica Long of Baltimore earned her 19th overall Paralympic individual medal with a bronze in the S8 100m butterfly, tying her with Erin Popovich for second all-time in U.S. women’s history.