Alyssia Crook has big goals and big dreams.

The Michigan Lakeshore Aquatics swimmer is aiming to qualify for the Paralympics in 2020 — and be a member of the U.S. Paralympic Resident Team.

This weekend, Crook got a taste of what that would be like. Crook competed in a USA meet at Zeeland, hosted by the West Michigan Swimmers and the Rays, which included several club teams from Michigan, as well as the U.S. Paralympic Resident Team.

“It was awesome. I only see my Paralympic team like four times a year. It means so much to be here and hang out and swim with them. I love them,” Crook said. “It means so much for me because my team (and any team) needs to see what we do. It is awesome that we can make people realize that anything is possible — no matter if you lose an arm or a leg. We are swimmers just like them. I wish we could have more meets like this because I think we can inspire a lot of people. That is who we are.”

Crook, inspired by the company, swam best times in all of her events.

“I was proud of what I did. I got best times. But I got to race with Paralympic swimmers,” she said. “My goal is to make one of my times so I can train in the Olympic facility with this U.S. team.”

The U.S. Paralympic team set 12 American records during the weekend at Zeeland. Records are based on different abilities.

Tye Dutcher set an American record in the 50 butterfly (27.44).

“It was my first record. It is pretty cool. I have been through a lot in my life, losing my foot when I was 11 years old. I never gave up. It is the same thing with the rest of these athletes. We have a constantly positive attitude. We don’t give up,” Dutcher said. “Everyone says we are inspirations, but meets like this show what the Paralympics are all about.”

Rio 2016 Paralympic medalist Tharon Drake set an American record in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.06). He also set marks in the 50 breaststroke (30.21) and 200 freestyle (2:04.83). Tyler Austin set an American record in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.37).

“It was great to see the people here in Michigan come out and support us the way they did. It was awesome. It wasn’t about looking at the blind kid swimming, it was about this kid who was swimming well who also was blind,” Drake said. “We were all equals at this meet. It was a really neat opportunity for us. That was one of my favorite moments as an athlete, getting the chance to race with the able-bodied kids. It was amazing to see the crowd get the energy that they had. They looked at us as athletes, not different kids. That was amazing. There was something special about the energy of this crowd.”

In the women’s meet, Letticia Martinez set records in the 50 backstroke (40.67) and 50 butterfly (32.96) on Sunday. She also set the mark in the 50 freestyle (29.86), 50 breaststroke (44.55) and 100 butterfly (1:18.11) on Saturday. Samantha Tubbs set a record in the100 breaststroke (1:16.47).

“It was so nice meeting all the young swimmers and the high schoolers, it was a lot of fun,” Martinez said. “Not a lot of people know a lot about the Paralympics, they confuse us with the Special Olympics, which is a great organization, but we are different.

We train as hard as the Olympians and it is time to show everyone how hard we work. You can still accomplish your dreams whether you have the same abilities or not.”

That is what Crook is aiming for.

Crook has competed at the CanAm Games as well as the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials last year in North Carolina.

“The biggest one I went to is the Paralympic trials. That was really big for me. It was my first time. It was in North Carolina,” she said. “I was close but not too close that I had a real shot. I know for sure Tokyo in 2020 will be my year.”

— Follow this reporter on Twitter @DanDAddona and Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.