Houghton native Maria Velat poses during the Move United Junior Nationals in Denver. Velat won three gold medals and two silver. (Submitted Photo)

Houghton High School incoming senior Maria Velat won three gold and two silver medals at the Move United Junior Nationals which were held in Denver, Colorado, in mid-July.

This event was a week-long, national sport championship event for young athletes with a physical disability and/or a visual impairment through the age of 22. About 300 athletes from around the nation competed in events ranging from wheelchair football, archery to track and field events.

Velat suffers from myelitis, an extremely rare condition related to inflammation of the transverse region of the spinal cord.

Velat contracted it unexpectedly in the fall of 2019. According to her dad, John, there is a one in a million chance of getting it. While it can be managed, there is no cure for this debilitating condition that often strikes fast with no real symptoms.

While Velat walks with forearm braces, she competes in a racing wheelchair. Velat won her gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter sprints. She took home silver medals in the 800 and 1500 meters middle-distant races. Add to that a second-place finish in the 10-meter air rifle shooting.

“I grew up hunting,” she said with a smile.

This was the first time Velat, her mom and dad had participated in a national adaptive-sports event, and they look forward to making it a summer tradition.

“It was a great experience,” Maria said. “Most people have been doing this for several years. However, everybody was so welcoming to us, and it was such an uplifting experience.”

Velat was part of Team Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association which had around 30 athletes competing at the Denver event. She earned a qualifying time to go to junior nationals in her events by participating in regional meets in Milwaukee and Indiana earlier this summer.

While her dad John was delighted that Velat qualified for junior nationals, he was disappointed that she had to travel out of state to do so. Michigan is one of around just 15 states that does not allow adaptive athletes to qualify for regional or national events through their normal, high-school athletic season. Velat is a member of Houghton track and field team and competed in a several meets this past spring that would have qualified her.

“We were happy that she could do it but frustrated that she could not do it as part of the high-school sports season,” he said. “We want to change that.”

He agreed with Velat that the whole week in Denver was a great one.

“Both the regional and this national event were a lot of fun because it was full of young people with all sorts of disabilities having fun and being themselves,” he said. “They have amazing athleticism and the level of competition is top notch. I also got a lot of good tips from parents on training and living with a disability.”

As her senior year of high school nears, Velat is looking forward to being apart of the Houghton cross country team again.

“I will use a special hand bike for that,” she said, “and I plan to go to college and do racing in college as well.”