Early exposure to para competition pays off for athletes at OSAA state championships

Hillsboro High School sophomore Elizabeth Keen competes in the Para 400-meter dash at the 2023 OSAA Track & Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene. Photo by Maggie Troxell

By Maddie Lang

Neither Micah Laws nor Elizabeth Keen originally chose to compete in track and field. However, after being pushed by loved ones and friends to try it, they fell in love with the sport. 

Laws, a freshman at Cascade High School, began running in fourth grade because, he said with a grin, “I was made to do it by my mom.” 

“With visual impairment,” Laws said, “I don’t have a lot of options for sports.” 

Keen, a sophomore at Hillsboro High School, was 9 years old and attending one of her friend’s races when her friend's coach threw Keen into a race wheelchair and had her compete. 

“I kept coming back,” she said, “because I really liked the competitive side of track and going against people that were the same as me.”

Both athletes won medals Friday night at the OSAA State Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field. 

This is Laws’ first season running distance and his first time running at Hayward Field. He competed in the Para 1,500 meters Friday night where he ran by himself, finishing in 5:39.08.

“Being alone was a lot more nerve racking,” he said.

He has high hopes for himself and hopes to one day beat the Para-1500 record. To reach this goal, Laws wants to start taking running more seriously and training in the off-season.

Keen competed in the Para 400-meter dash against one other competitor, who did not use a wheelchair. She ran a time of 2:05.64, which is just two seconds off of her PR. 

Keen felt frustrated after her race. She said it was hard having to compete against someone who is ambulatory and would have rather competed alone. She felt as though the first-place title was unfairly taken from her. 

“It makes me feel like all my hard work was nothing,” she said. 

During her high school season, Keen competes either with able-bodied athletes or in her own race. She doesn’t have many competitors who race like her. 

“I honestly at this point just compete against my own time,” she said.

During the summers, Keen is a part of several different Paralympic track and field clubs, and she competes against and trains with other wheelchair track and field athletes.