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Cyclist Shawn Morelli, a 1998 Penn State graduate, won two gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in September, claiming titles in the 3,000-meter C4 individual pursuit and the road cycling time trial C4. Morelli had headed to Brazil as the world-record holder in the 3,000- meter event, and in advancing to the final she broke the Paralympics record with a time of 3 minutes, 57.741 sec- onds. She cruised in the final, too, fin- ishing in 3:59.407 to defeat defending champion Susan Powell of Australia. Making her Paralympics debut, Morelli was the only competitor to finish in less than 4 minutes. "My husband, who is in the Army, was able to make the trip over here to see this race, and that just meant the world to me," she told USA Cycling. "My mom is here, and that was her first time on an airplane. … I am just so happy they were here to see that. I am also really happy that I was able to perform in front of these fans and in this great country." Morelli is a U.S. Army veteran who was wounded by an improvised explo- sive device while deployed in Afghanistan in 2007. She suffered brain and neck injuries and was blinded in her left eye. While working to recover, the Meadville, Pa., native took up cy- cling. She moved into the competitive realm with an appearance at the War- rior Games in 2010. At the Paralympics, Morelli won the road cycling time trial C4, finishing in 29 minutes, 45.40 seconds. The world- record holder in the event, she out- paced fellow Team USA cyclist Megan Fisher by more than 30 seconds. The C4 classification includes cy- clists who have upper or lower limb impairments or low-level neurological impairments. Morelli also competed in the C4-C5 road race but did not medal. Morelli was not the only Penn State athlete to compete in the Paralympics. Joining her in Rio was shot putter Emily Frederick, a freshman from Gadsden, Ala. Frederick, who has dwarfism, did not initially qualify for the games but made the United States roster after the Russian delegation was banned from the Paralympics for a state- sponsored doping program, making spots available. "I had kind of caught wind of it all that day that I might be called up but hadn't received any confirmation, so it was kind of iffy and I didn't want to get my hopes up," Frederick told Go- PSUSports.com. "So then, when I fi- nally got the call, it was more like I was relieved in a sense." A kinesiology student, Frederick had to abruptly rearrange her academic schedule, dropping two classes so that she could travel to Rio. She went on to finish ninth in the shot put – F40. "I've never competed against other people in my classification before, so this is the first competition I've ever had outside of my class," Frederick said. "It was pretty cool, because all these people have the same thing and I was finally able to compete against somebody like me." can see the leadership from the sideline and the guys rally around each other. It's just a different view from the side- line." Since graduating from Penn State in 2008, Williams has been back for a game or two every year. But he's eager to expe- rience the sideline atmosphere that he knew so well as a player. "There's nothing like it," he said. "Just being through the different levels, play- ing in the league a little bit, there's nothing like being in State College, being around the guys, being around the locker room. I'm excited for that. I'm INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS Morelli, above, won two gold medals in cy- cling, while Fred- erick, left, competed in the shot put. Photo of Frederick by An- tonella Crescim- beni/Penn State University PARALYMPICS PSU's Paralympians shine in Rio

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