AUSTIN — In its 11th year for the University Interscholastic League (UIL) at the State Track and Field Meet — held May 1-3 in Austin — at the Mike Myers Track and Soccer Stadium was the Para Athlete competition in wheelchair racing and shotput.
One of the participants was Dripping Springs High School student Isabel Crew, or Izzy, who was born with spina bifida and has had no movement below her knees since birth.
Crew earned medals in all three events she entered and in her efforts was awarded the UIL Athlete of the Meet in the wheelchair division.
The opportunity to train and compete at the UIL level is a foundational part of her annual training calendar and she loves being able to showcase Para Athletics for anyone who may have never seen it before.
“It's been really great to see all the athletes come out and compete. It's awesome to have somebody that you can share your experiences with and connect,” Crew said. “We're all different, but we've had some of the same experiences, so it’s fun to compete, meet new people and continue to grow the sport.”
This is her third year competing at the state and national level in para-athletics, but the first year as a freshman competing in the UIL meet, where she won medals in each of the three events.
Cisco High School’s Lillian Fought won gold (17.44) and Crew won a silver medal (18.20) in the 100-meter race, her first event. She earned a gold medal in the 400-meter race by beating Fought, the leader, in just under three seconds (1:05.51 to 1:08.41) after overtaking her in the final stretch.
“I had some really tough competition and at the beginning of the 400, I was kind of nervous, but I wanted to win so I just gave it all that I had,” Crew said. “After I passed her, I didn't stop pushing and just tried to push as hard as I could.”
In the shotput, her third and final event, Crew narrowly missed the gold and recorded a toss of 18-3.25 for the silver medal, while Tahlie Brandt of Canyon Randall High School won the gold medal with an 18-4.00.
Crew is one of the fastest junior (under 20) wheelchair racers in the U.S., particularly in the middle distance, 800-1500-meter races. She participated in the US Paralympic Trials in Florida last summer and came in fifth in the 1500-meter, behind a veteran marathon racer and three members of Team USA who went to Paris. Crew is the current national champion for T54, her para-athletics classification, U17 (girls under 17 years old) in the 800-meter and 1500-meter wheelchair, and hopes to defend that title later this summer at the Move United Nationals in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
She recently competed at the Texas Parasport Games, where she won 11 medals and set a new national record for shot put for U17 girls. She will race in five events next weekend at the Jalisco Grand Prix in Mexico, one of a series of International Para Athletics meets put on by World Para Athletics, and this summer will compete in similar meets in Switzerland and France against some of the best athletes in the world in her class, as well as Paralympians who competed last summer in Paris. Crew’s goal is to continue to improve in her international ranking and she is working toward being selected for Team USA in 2028 for the Paralympics in Los Angeles.
“Izzy is a great athlete to work with. She is very dedicated and can persevere through just about anything. For our entire coaching staff, it has been a learning experience, since none of us had ever worked with a wheelchair athlete. What has made it much easier is the support and education we have received from Texas Parasport,” said assistant track coach Stephen Morales. “In addition, her parents are huge advocates for Izzy and the sport in general. They have supported her dreams and encouraged her to give it her all.”
Dripping Springs High School has been welcoming and supportive of her goals, Crew said: “I'm really grateful for my coaches who've helped me improve a lot this season and I've gotten a lot of extra practice to add on to all the other training I do during the week.”
“We are looking forward to working with her for three more years and seeing what she can accomplish,” Morales added.
