Illini athletes competing to punch ticket to 2024 Paralympic Games

CHAMPAIGN (WCIA) — Inside Illinois’s Disability Resources and Educational Services building sits a unique training facility, one deemed an official United States Paralympic Training Site 10 years ago. It’s home to two athletes who have already made history this season, and ready to make more.

Hannah Dederick and Evan Correll swept the 100-meter wheelchair races for Illinois at the NCAA Track & Field Championships in June, the first time wheelchair racing was grouped in with the NCAA competition in Eugene, Oregon.

“Illinois has always been such a recognized program, we’ve made a lot of history and so to be able to have it in the NCAA is incredible because Illinois is a top spot for wheelchair racing athletes and it’s gonna grow from there,” Hannah Dederick said.

“There was so much input,” Correll said about the NCAA Championships. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh yeah, I won’ or ‘I’m a champion’ it was just like, ‘Wow the crowd is so loud and this facility is so nice’ like I said. The vibe even before we even got on the track it was just amazing. I loved every minute of it.”

But even with school out and the collegiate racing season over, these athletes have stayed in Champaign to train for the upcoming Paralympic Trials July 18-20 at the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida.

“So we typically either train on the road or on the track,” Correll said. “We’ll go for 13, maybe 18 miles on the road and then track we’ll do various workouts and we’ll typically train on the track at last for the 100, 400, 800, 1500 and 5k. So it’s come in every day, train as hard as you can, eat well, drink lots of water.”

Dederick is looking to qualify for her second Paralympic games after going to Tokyo, while Correll is trying to qualify for the first time.

“This year has been just jampacked so all of us were, I think we’re prepared for those massive steps going forward,” Correll said. “I know I have been and I know my teammates have definitely been. We’ve had a very good attitude in practice, we know that we’re here to work and we’re not gonna give up easily. We’re gonna train and we’re gonna win the best we can.”

“We want to compete at the highest level and we want to show them that we’re competing at the top level that we can be,” said Dederick.

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