Cheri Blauwet
Larchwood, IW
Track and Field

Cheri Blauwet was born in Larchwood, Iowa, where she was injured in a farm accident at the age of 15 months. Upon entering high school, her track coach encouraged her to join the team because Iowa held sanctioned wheelchair events at the state finals. By her sophomore year she had set records at the state level and was given a racing wheelchair as a reward for her accomplishments. In 1997, she broke national records in all of her events at the Junior National Wheelchair Championships.

In the fall of 1998 Cheri began her academic and racing career at The University of Arizona. She became the captain of the wheelchair track and road racing team and continued to realize her athletic potential. Along with several wins at national and international road races, Cheri represented her country at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, Australia. After a week of competition, she came home to Tucson with 1 silver and 3 bronze medals in the 100, 200, 400, and 800 meter events respectively.

A champion both in and out of the classroom, Cheri maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout her undergraduate career as a major in Molecular and Cellular Biology. In 2002, Cheri was selected to be one of 20 students nation-wide to be on the USA Today’s All-American Academic Team. She was also named a winner of the 2002 Vince Lombardi Champion Award for her success in athletics in addition to her commitment to the community. Recently, Cheri was awarded a $10,000 grant as a recipient of the Paul G. Hearne/AAPD leadership award. This honor recognizes Cheri’s efforts in establishing a foundation at the University of Arizona that provides scholarships for disabled students from developing countries. Cheri began medical school at Stanford in the fall of 2003 to pursue a career in medicine with a focus on health and human rights. Her ultimate goal: to change the quality of life for individuals with disabilities worldwide through innovative work with disabled youth and adults.
In, 2003 and 2004, Cheri truly became a name on the elite racing circuit. Since competing Sydney, she has progressed into focusing on longer distances in order to keep her career fresh and tackle a new challenge. Some of her outstanding finishes include:

-Winner, 2003 and 2004 New York City Marathon (First woman to break the two-hour barrier in the wheelchair event)
-Winner, 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Marathon.
-Winner, 2004 Boston Marathon; 2nd, 2003 Boston Marathon
-Unofficial 5K world record, Carlsbad 5000 (March, 2003)
-Nominee, Women’s Sports Foundation 2003 Sportswoman of the Year.
-Nominee, 2004 ESPY Award: Best Athlete with a Disability.

Cheri has been selected to compete at the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games in September, where she will test her skill once again in the 800, 1500, 5000 meter track events, in addition to her priority event - the marathon.