Calvin University staff member Simon Detmer recently took home a silver medal at the U.S. Paralympic Championships in Chula Vista, California. Detmer earned his silver medal in the 400 meter dash in the T37 division. He ran a time of 1:01.79.

Detmer graduated from Calvin this past December and has been a member of the Calvin men's cross country and track and field program.

In the spring of 2021, Detmer, then a Calvin track and field athlete born with cerebral palsy, captured the attention of the sports world when he broke the national record for the 800 meters. Classified as a T37 Paralympian, Detmer came in with a time of 2:16.88, breaking the previous record set by Jason Tercey in 1996. He then traveled to compete in the Paralympic Trials where, despite placing gold in the long jump, the 400 meters, and the 1500 meters, he did not make the cut to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. The T37 division includes athletes with a particular form of cerebral palsy.

However, not making the cut didn't stop his involvement in the Paralympics athletic community. In 2022, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee reached out and invited him to be a part of the Para-Inclusion Project Team. The team is made up USA athletes, heads of the USOPC and NCAA and was tasked with coming up with ways of providing equitable access to competition for elite athletes with disabilities.

"I was part of a ten-person team called the Paralympic Track and Field team," explained Detmer. "We have the intention to find ways to provide competitive experiences to para-athletes, specifically in the college setting."

Thanks to the handwork of Detmer and the rest of the team the USOPC now sponsors wheelchair basketball championship, wheelchair tennis championships, and wheelchair track and field championships at the collegiate level.

"These are the first steps in insuring that athletes with or without disabilities can compete in the same if not similar environments," Detmer says.

Now, Detmer will be looking to take what he has learned as a part of that team and bring it back to the Calvin community. After graduating in December, he accepted a research position in the president's office where he is looking for ways to make Calvin and the MIAA a more inclusive and accessible environment to every kind of athlete.

"I think that is a huge step forward in creating a culture where we can all come together and rejoice in something we love—sports."
 
As for his own athletic career, Detmer has his sights set on making the USA Paralympic Team in the 400 meters.