Notre Dame Prep junior Becca Meyers finished off a stellar week at the World Deaf Swimming Championships in Coimbra, Portugal by winning her fourth gold medal and setting another meet record Saturday.

Meyers, who was born deaf, won all three individual events she entered in the third annual championships -- the 200-meter, 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle races -- and she twice lowered world championship records in both the 400 and the 800.

She was also part of the United States' 800-meter freestyle team that set an overall deaf world record.

In the seventh and final day of competition Saturday, Meyers defeated Anna Tovsta, the Ukranian who holds the overall deaf world record, to win the 400 freestyle in 4 minutes, 31.70 seconds. That time lowered the championship meet mark Meyers had set with her 400 split in Thursday's 800-meter race. Tovsta, who set her overall record of 4:27.82 two years ago, finished in 4:36.41.

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Becca Meyers, a rising junior at Notre Dame Prep, won her second gold medal and set her second meet record Thursday at the World Deaf Swimming Championships in Coimbra, Portugal.

It was the second deaf world championships record for Meyers in three days. She lowered her own 800-meter freestyle record, finishing in 9 minutes, 16.22 seconds to defeat Anna Tovsta, of Ukraine, for the gold. Tovsta finished in 9:26.16. In the qualifying heat Tuesday, Meyers broke the record of 9:31.76 set in 2007 by Kristin Ates, of the United States.

Myers, who was born deaf, also won the 200-meter freestyle. A swimmer for NDP and for Loyola Blakefield Aquatics, Meyers is also scheduled to swim the 400 freestyle Saturday, the final day of the world competition. Two years ago, she won a bronze medal in the 800 freestyle at the Deaflympics in Taiwan.

Becca Meyers photos

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Notre Dame Prep swimmer Becca Meyers swam the 800 meters record in a record time of 9 minutes, 26.83 seconds at the World Deaf Swimming Championships on Tuesday. (Baltimore Sun photo from January by Gene Sweeney Jr.)

Notre Dame Prep's Becca Meyers set a World Deaf Swimming Championships record in her preliminary heat of the 800-meter freestyle Tuesday in Coimbra, Portugal.

It's the first world record for Meyers, who won the gold medal Sunday in the 200-meter freestyle and has a bronze medal in the 800 freestyle from the 2009 Deaflympics in Taiwan.

The rising junior, who swims for NDP and for Loyola Blakefield Aquatics, set the 800-meter record in 9 minutes, 26.83 seconds, breaking the old mark of 9:31.76 set by Kristin Ates of the United States in 2007. The deaf world record is 9:09.73, set in 1981 by American Elizabeth Lutz.

Meyers, who was born deaf, will swim in the 800 meter final Thursday and is listed as swimming the 400 freestyle on Saturday, the final day of the competition.

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Notre Dame Prep rising junior Becca Meyers won the gold medal in the 200-meter freestyle Sunday at the World Deaf Swimming Championships in Choimbra, Portugal.

Meyers, who was born deaf, defeated Russia's Luiza Marushkina by less than a second to win the gold in 2 minutes, 11.83 seconds. Hers was one of two gold medals won by the United States team on the first day of competition and the only one by an American woman.

This is Meyers' second international medal. A club swimmer with Loyola Blakefield Aquatics, she took bronze in the 800-meter freestyle at the 2009 Deaflympics in Taiwan.

On the World Deaf Swimming Championships website, she is also listed as planning to swim the 800 freestyle on Wednesday and the 400 freestyle on Saturday, the final day of competition.

Meyers was born with Usher syndrome, which also affects her balance and is slowly claiming her vision. She received a cochlear implant at age 2 and has been able to hear ever since.

However, she cannot wear the external device for the implant in the pool, so she cannot hear anything during the meets. In February, she helped NDP win the IAAM A Conference swimming championship.

Baltimore Sun photo of Becca Meyers by Gene Sweeney Jr. / Jan. 31, 2011

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