TORONTO – Paralympian and University of Indianapolis senior Dalton Herendeen secured a spot on the upcoming 2015 International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championships Saturday, taking gold and breaking the American and PanAm records for the men's 100m breaststroke SB8 at the CanAm Para-Swimming Championships, held Mar. 20-22 in Toronto.

The international meet was held at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre and serves as the selection trials for the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships and Parapan Am Games.

After touching in 1:16.30 in the morning preliminaries, Herendeen posted a finals time of 1:14.70 to set the bar for an American in his disability class.  A native of Elkhart, Ind., Herendeen had his left leg amputated below the knee shortly after being born due to a blood clot.

"It was extremely satisfactory," Herendeen said after the race. "I struggled a bit this morning so to get that time and look up to that (on the scoreboard) was great. I honestly didn't think I was going that fast. I thought it was about 1:15 high/1:16 low so when I saw that time, it was quite remarkable."

Herendeen is now just 0.1 seconds off of third place in the world rankings in the men's 100m breaststroke SB8.  He will travel to Berlin, Germany for a national meet next month before heading to the Paralympic training camp in Colorado Springs, Colo., this summer.  There he will prep for the IPC Swimming World Championships held in Glasgow, United Kingdom July 13-19.

"This is really neat for Dalton," said UIndy head swimming coach Gary Kinkead.  "He has worked hard for this moment as a building block to Rio De Janeiro in 2016 (site of the next Olympics).  He is progressing to the point that a medal in Rio is a distinct possibility; maybe even a distinct probability.  

"He is hungry to continue to work.  We have worked on his technique over the past year, and he is becoming more and more comfortable with it and it is suited extremely well to his lack of a lower left leg.  He is only going to get better at it."

Success in his quest for a spot on the 2016 Rio team will make Herendeen a two-time Paralympian.  Three years ago at just 19 years old, he raced for Team USA at the 2012 London games, competing in the 100-meter breast SB8, 100m back S10, 100m fly S10, 200m IM SM1 and 400m free (S10), with a top finish of ninth in the 400 free.