Featured Athlete

    Anthony Russo was born on November 9, 1981, at Viginina Beach General Hospital.  After being born Anthony was rushed to King's Daughters Childrens Hospital, in Norfolk, for an emergency back surgery.  This was because Anthony was born with the disability Spina Bifida, which is inflammation of the spinal cord.  Anthony's disability gave him partial paralysis in his lower body.
     At the age of six Anthony joined the Sun Wheelers.  He participated mainly in regional track and field events.  This went on until 1991 when he received this first three wheeled racing wheelchair for Christmas.  In the spring of 1992, Anthony qualified to go to the Junior Nationals for Track & Field Championship in Orlando, Florida, along with a hand full of his other Sun Wheeler teammates.  There he competed in the 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1500 meter races.  The very next year he qualified again for the Junior Nationals in Columbus, Ohio.  Except this time, he qualified in the 5000 meter race, along with the shotput, discuss, and javelin.  In 1994, Anthony surprised many people when he went to Oklahoma and took 2nd in five separate track events and two field events.  In 1995, at the Junior Nationals in Colorado, he preformed exceptionally well making it to the finals in each fo his events, despite moving up in to a new age group.   Unfortunately, he was forced to give up the javelin when he suffered a back injury in practice from over-throwing the javelin.

    After competing the following year at the Alabama Junior Nationals and placing in all but one of his events (5000m), Athony was put on the roster of the Sun Wheeler's Division II basketball team.  At the age of fourteen, he was the youngest player ever on the team.  With basketball team, he traveled even more then when he traveled for track & field, places like North Carolina and Pennsylvania.  Anthony still enjoys being part of the team in this rough team sport.
     Anthony began to integrate wheelchair sports in his high school track program.  He competed at Cox High School during the spring of 1997.  He received a varsity letter as a freshman.  Although he could beat all the runners he felt that the practice would help him in the long run.  That summer the Sun Wheeler Track & Field team did not go to the Junior Nationals in Arizona.  This gave Anthony an opportunity to go to a wheelchair sports camp at the University of Illinois.  There he learned more about basketball and track from world class coaches and one of the best traing programs in the country  

    During the winter of 1997, Anthony competed at Cox with the indoor track team for the first time.  This was a different experience for him because indoor track was really outside and he was not use to pushing in cold weather.  The next outdoor track season in 1998, he broke the four minute mark with a 3:58 at the District meet.  That summer Anthony went back to competing at the Junior Nationals in Bellvue, Washington.  There he placed for the first time, at the national meet, in the 5000 meter race.  Yet that wasn't even the most exciting part.  Anthony became a National Champion in his 200 meter race.  In September, Anthony signed up for a 10 kilometer race in Pennsylvania, where he could have won up to $9,000, but during the race he hit a rock and blew his tire.
     Again, during his indoor and outdoor high school track meets('98,'99) Anthony bettered all of his previous times.  At the 1999 Junoir Nationals in New Mexico, he placed in all of his track events.  At this particular meet he became a National Champion in the 800 meter race.  Despite breaking the national record in the 200m, Anthony could only place 2nd in that race.  In October of 1999, he was invited to the University of Arizona for the Annual Pony Express 5K Race that the university puts on for wheelchair racers as well as runners.  Anthony place 4th in the wheelchair division and was also offered a scholarship to join their wheelchair track program.  Now Anthony plans to attend the University of Arizona in the upcoming fall.