Pueblo athletes set to represent Colorado at Special Olympics USA games
Athletes Morrigan Hubbard and Augie Lara are heading from Pueblo to Orlando to compete in track and field events as part of Team Colorado at the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games next week.
Hubbard, 23, will compete in the women's 100-meter dash, women's long jump and a co-ed 400-meter relay. Lara, 28, will compete in the men's 100-meter dash, men's shot put and the 400-meter relay.
Both are members of Steel City Sliders, a Pueblo-based Special Olympics team that competes at the state level.
Hubbard began competing in Special Olympics as a middle school student in Vinton, Iowa where she was a Special Olympics state qualifier in bowling. After graduating high school with honors, Hubbard moved to live with her legal guardian, Janelle Griffin, in Pueblo in 2017. She has competed with the Steel City Sliders for two years.
"I love being on the team and being given this opportunity to play in the USA Games," she said.
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When she's not on the track, Hubbard does pre-vocational training at Pueblo Diversified Industries. She shares a love for running with one her favorite superheroes, 'The Flash' and is an avid fan of WWE diva Brie Bella.
"I always go 'Brie-mode,'" she said. "Ever since I started watching wrestling, Brie Bella has been my idol."
The month of June will be a busy one for Lara. Days after finishing up competition in Orlando, he will travel to Maryland to receive his master's degree in Interscholastic Sports Administration from the American Public University system.
A Pueblo native and graduate of Centennial High School, Lara has been passionate about sports his entire life. As a child, he knew one number, John Elway's number seven, but eventually learned to count using playing cards.
At an event in April to raise money for Special Olympics Colorado, Lara told The Chieftain that a teacher told him in elementary school that he "would never be the person I am today. But you can do anything you put your mind to.”
After high school, he got a welding degree, he said Thursday.
"I told myself, I just want to go back and do what I love and that's how I got into sports management and interscholastic sports administration," he said.
In addition to the Steel City Sliders, Lara competes in Special Olympics with the Soaring Eagles and Pueblo Crush. He plays multiple sports, including softball, football and basketball.
"It's a privilege to be a part of Team Colorado," Lara said. "It means a lot to represent your home state and I am just very privileged just to be a part it."
Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached by email at JBartolo@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Two Pueblo athletes represent Colorado at Special Olympics USA games
