U-M Student Burns Wins Silver Medal at Rio Paralympics
9/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Olympics
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- University of Michigan student Zach Burns, a sophomore on the men's club rowing team, won a silver medal (3:19.61) as part of the U.S. Legs, Trunk and Arms (LTA) Mixed Coxed Four yesterday (Sunday, Sept. 11) at the 2016 Paralympics. Great Britain won gold (3:17.17), while Canada took bronze (3:19.90) on the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas Paralympic rowing race course.
Burns, an Ann Arbor native who attended Skyline High School, shared the boat with coxswain Jenny Sichel (Clifton, N.J.), Dorian Weber (Manhasset, N.Y.), Danielle Hansen (Patterson, Calif.) and Jaclyn Smith (Williston Park, N.Y.).
The silver-medal finish represented a jump from the 2012 London Paralympics, where the U.S. finished sixth.
Burns is enrolled in the College of Engineering, majoring in electrical engineering. At Michigan, Burns helped the men's rowing team to its ninth straight ACRA national championship. He was part of Team USA in last year's Paralympic World Championships where they earned a gold medal.
