University of Northern Iowa Athletics
Prochaska, Heims to represent Team USA at Parapan American Games
11/16/2023 10:01:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving, Track and Field
Current Panther swimmer and former UNI discus thrower to compete in Chile with goals of qualifying for next summer’s Paralympic Games in Paris.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- The seventh edition of the Parapan American Games will open on Friday night in Santiago, Chile and two Panthers will be on-site to represent the United States on the international stage.
UNI sophomore swimmer Cali Prochaska will compete in four events in her second Parapan American Games appearance, while former Panther Jessica Heims will also make her second appearance at the games in track and field competition in the discus
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.
Prochasa, a Fort Wayne, Indiana native with proximal femoral focal disorder in her left leg and hip, 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, placed fourth in the S9 classification for the 100-meter butterfly at the 2019 Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru.
Heims, a 2021 UNI graduate, heads to Santiago as the reigning Parapan American Games champion in the F64 women's discus throw to win one of 26 total gold medals for Team USA in track and field competition. Born with amniotic band syndrome with an amputated left leg, Heims has also competed in the previous two Paralympic Games, taking seventh in the 400 meters and eighth in the discus in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and fifth in the discus at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
CALI PROCHASKA COMPETITION SCHEDULE
- Nov. 19 - SM9 200-meter individual medley (Direct final in prelims)
- Nov. 20 - S9 100-meter butterfly (Direct final in finals)
- Nov. 22 - S9 400-meter freestyle
- Nov. 24 - SB8 100-meter breaststroke (Direct final in prelims)
***6 a.m. CT prelims / 2 p.m. CT finals
JESSICA HEIMS COMPETITION SCHEDULE
- Nov. 25 - F64 Discus Throw (10:12 a.m. CT)
Players Mentioned
