Hartford Nationals returns to Grand Rapids for a third year

Elizabeth Woller knows what it is like to race against the clock. At some adaptive track meets, that has been her only competition.

At a meet in Arizona this year, no other athletes were in Woller’s Paralympic classification. She could run against athletes in other classifications, but when it came to measuring herself against someone she might someday face at the Paralympics, she was on her own.

The Hartford Nationals in Grand Rapids was different.

“Once I was at Nationals, I had at least a person I was able to compete [against] that wasn’t in other classifications,” says Woller, who uses a prosthetic leg.

The experience gave the Montague High School graduate and Muskegon Community College student a chance to see where she stands as she works toward a bigger goal: competing in the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.

“I have not, but that’s my dream to make it there in LA 2028,” Woller says.

She will have another chance to compete close to home next year.

Move United announced The Hartford Nationals will return to Grand Rapids July 9-15, 2027, giving West Michigan a third consecutive year as host of the national adaptive sports competition.

Recent event a record-setter

The 2026 event drew a record 428 athletes from 38 states, including a record 35 from Michigan. Athletes competed in eight sports: archery, boccia, para powerlifting, paratriathlon and aquathlon, shooting, swimming, track and field, and wheelchair and para standing tennis.

Woller competed in three track and field events at The Hartford Nationals. She won the 100-meter race in 16.64 seconds and the 200-meter race in 34.72 seconds. She also was part of the winning 4×100-meter relay team, which finished in 1 minute, 7.49 seconds.

“It was amazing,” she says. “Just to be part of this incredible [event] with other Paralympians and people doing the same thing as I am, just to prove that we’re more than our disability, and that even though we’re disabled, we can still do sports that we want to.”

Woller has been running for about half her life. She started with Girls on the Run in fifth grade, then competed in cross country and track through middle and high school. She also spent a year competing in indoor and outdoor track at Muskegon Community College.

She has competed against able-bodied athletes for years. The Hartford Nationals gave her something different: a chance to race athletes in her classification.

“I would say it is a step up,” Woller says. “I mean, I love competing with able-bodied athletes. It just gave me more, I would say, more competition.”

A road to top-level competition

That is part of the role The Hartford Nationals plays in adaptive sports. Athletes must qualify through one of more than 35 sanctioned competitions across the country through the Move United member network, a national governing body, or a high school athletic association-sanctioned event.

The system creates a path from local and regional competition to a national championship. It also gives athletes a chance to compete against others in their classifications, something Woller didn’t have at every meet this season.

Her times at this year’s Nationals weren’t personal bests, but she saw progress.

About two months earlier, Woller switched from a long-distance running blade to one designed for sprinting. The change required her to learn different techniques and adjust how she uses the prosthetic.

“You’re just relearning new techniques, how to even run better and to use the prosthetic properly,” she says. “And so my time wasn’t, like, the best, but it definitely improved each race.”

New prosthetic spurred career

Woller’s path to competitive running began years before she reached a national meet.

She was born in China and adopted at age 7½. After coming to the United States, she underwent an amputation. She received a prosthetic leg, but walking long distances was difficult. Her parents kept a cart in their vehicle because she sometimes needed it during longer outings.

Her family later learned about a grant that could help her get equipment to become more active.

“My mom saw a grant on Facebook,” Woller says. “A friend reached out to her, I think, and it was when we wrote a grant about wanting new opportunities to be able to do sports and just to do more than just, ‘Oh, I can do a day-to-day task.’”

The grant led her family to ABR: Amputee Blade Runners in Nashville and helped Woller get a running prosthesis.

“That’s when my running career really started,” she says.

A few months later, she underwent another surgery. Six weeks after that, she was running.

“Six weeks later, I ran my first ever Girls on the Run for three miles, and that’s how it really started,” Woller says.

Her experience shows how access to adaptive equipment can change the options available to an athlete. Competition is another piece. Athletes need places to train, opportunities to qualify and other athletes in their classifications to race.

The Hartford Nationals brings those pieces together in one competition.

Additional year as host

Grand Rapids was originally expected to host The Hartford Nationals for two years. The 2026 event was supposed to be the final year in that cycle.

Move United decided to bring the competition back for a third year.

“Making the decision to return to Grand Rapids for a third year reflects what a wonderful experience our host organizations have provided to our competitors and families,” Move United CEO Glenn Merry says. “The venues are top-notch, hotel accommodations are accessible and first-rate, and the friendly and hospitable community and volunteers have really shone a light on how remarkable this city is for sports.

The West Michigan Sports Commission hosts the event with help from Mary Free Bed Wheelchair and Adaptive Sports.

Seven locations across the Grand Rapids area hosted competitions this year. They included facilities at Calvin University, Mary Free Bed YMCA, Millennium Park, MSA Fieldhouse, MVP Athletic Club and the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Organizers estimate visitors coming for the competition spend more than $2 million in West Michigan.

West Michigan Sports Commission President Mike Guswiler says bringing the event back shows what the region can offer adaptive athletes and their families.

“With two years of hosting The Hartford Nationals for Move United under our belt, we couldn’t be more thrilled to host a third year in Grand Rapids,” Guswiler says. “This is a testament not only to our city as a premier sports destination due to our quality venues and hospitality, but also as an adaptive sports community with local partners like Mary Free Bed Wheelchair and Adaptive Sports.”

The 2027 event also will mark the 70th anniversary of The Hartford Nationals. The competition began at Adelphi College in New York in 1957 for adult adaptive athletes. Youth competition was added in 1984. The event is now open to athletes of all ages.

Concentrating on athletic career

Woller is already looking toward next summer and beyond. She is taking less than a half-time college course load at Muskegon Community College while putting more of her time into training.

“I really wanted to really focus on my running career and to actually really start that up, and that’s really my main goal this coming year,” she says.

Woller is strength training during the offseason to prepare her body for sprint workouts. She also wants to try a new event. A coach has encouraged her to consider long jump, and she plans to start practicing this winter.

“I just want to give it a shot,” Woller says. “If I’m not good at it, that’s OK. I’ll just focus on my sprint workouts. If not, I would love to give long jump a shot.”

The Hartford Nationals will be part of that next step when it returns to Grand Rapids.

Woller plans to be back.

“Yes, I’m so excited,” she says. “I’m just ready for this season to do all my conditioning and everything, and to prepare for next year.”

Photos courtesy of Move United