CRANBERRY TWP — Scratch one off the bucket list — five times over.

Cranberry Township resident Janet McDonough recently returned from Sarasota, Fla., where she competed in the YMCA Masters Swimming Nationals.

McDonough, 55, competed in five individual events, winning the gold medal and setting the YMCA national record time in each.

“I had a couple of things to scratch off my bucket list,” McDonough said. “One of them was to set a record at nationals. I thought I had a shot at one or two of them this year ... Getting all five is well beyond my expectations.”

McDonough won the 50-yard backstroke in 31.64 seconds, the 100 back in a minute, 8.73 seconds, 200 back in 2:31.71, 100 individual medley in 1:08.67 and 200 I.M. in 2:30.79.

She also competed in four relay events, swimming the first leg of the gold medal-winning 400-yard freestyle relay. Two other relays McDonough participated in finished third.

McDonough accomplished all of this with the aid of a muscle tear in her shoulder.

“Sounds crazy, but it wound up helping me,” she said.

McDonough learned of the tear nine months ago and visited Dr. Patrick DeMeo, an orthopedic doctor and medical director for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who has dealt with numerous athletic injuries in that area.

He wound up referring her to Frank Velasquez, who worked with the Pirates from 2003-11. Velasquez now works out of VESLA 360 Sports Performance and Physical Therapy in Cranberry Township.

“The tear happened through excessive swimming,” McDonough said. “I’ve been swimming for years and just wore it down.”

A year ago, McDonough swam four or five days a week and did 4,000 yards in the pool. Now she swims three days a week, does 3,000 yards in the pool and does strength training twice a week with Velasquez.

“Janet came here twice a week for 12 weeks,” Velasquez said. “We worked on improving her posture, got her legs stronger and improved her back’s stability in the shoulder blade area to protect her shoulder.”

“The strength training kept the pain in my shoulder minimal and it improved my times,” McDonough said. “I got faster ... to the point I began breaking records.”

Eventually, McDonough will have surgery done on her shoulder.

She has that other item on her bucket list first.

“The FINA World (Masters) Championships are in Montreal in August,” she said. “I want to compete there. After that, I’ll probably look at having the surgery.”

Velasquez said McDonough is now in “regeneration mode” to help her body recover. She will resume training in the middle of May.

“That will give us eight to 10 weeks to get her ready for the world championships,” he said.

McDonough’s record-breaking times at the Masters meet were the fastest times she’s posted in six years, Velasquez said.

“Our training method was designed to combat fatigue and help enhance performance,” he said. “Swimming is a lot of overhead motion, similar to baseball players. We’ve had a lot of experience with those athletes, so we knew what to do for her.

“I’m not at all surprised Janet swam faster at the national meet. But five national records? I never expected anything like that. That’s awesome.”

McDonough graduated from Gateway High School and attended West Virginia University on a full swimming scholarship. She was a three-time national qualifier in college.

After college, she got away from swimming for a while.

“You really do burn out on it, you train so hard for so long,” she said.

Once she moved to Cranberry, the Rose Schneider YMCA was built two miles from her home. McDonough began swimming there and joined the Cranberry Wave, a swim club involving people of all ages.

“We practice from 5:30 to 7 a.m. during the week and on Saturday mornings,” McDonough said. “Some mornings might have four swimmers, others might have 12.

“For me, it’s been a great way to connect with people. Dale Wagner of Harmony ... I swam with him when were 11 and we reconnected at the Cranberry Y after not seeing each other for 25 years. It’s a pretty neat thing.”