Meet the Team USA Paralympians with NCAA ties

As Team USA prepares for the 2026 Winter Paralympics, several Paralympians have roots in college sports.

Seven Paralympic athletes and three guides enter the Games as former NCAA student-athletes. Each has unique stories of perseverance and success that have propelled them to represent their country on the biggest stage.

Steve Emt, Army West Point and UConn

College sport: Basketball

Paralympic sport: Wheelchair curling

Before becoming a 10-time national champion in wheelchair curling, Steve Emt played college basketball at Army West Point and UConn. After initially playing while a cadet at Army West Point, he transferred to UConn, where he was a walk-on from 1992-94 with the Huskies and Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun. His life was forever changed in 1995 when he was injured in a car accident as a result of drinking and driving, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 25.

Determined to not let his injury define him, Emt turned to teaching middle school students and coaching high school basketball before finding wheelchair curling in 2013. He has since represented Team USA in eight world championships in the mixed team event and won the wheelchair mixed doubles national championship alongside partner Laura Dwyer.

Fast facts:

• Competing in his third Paralympic Games.
• Continues to educate students through public speaking about resilience, self-empowerment and the dangers of drinking and driving.

Josh Misiewicz, Saint Mary's (Minnesota)

College sport: Ice hockey

Paralympic sport: Para ice hockey

Josh Misiewicz played hockey for Saint Mary's (Minnesota) for two years before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2010. On July 20, 2011, Misiewicz was injured by an IED while on foot patrol in Afghanistan, losing both his legs. During his recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, he began playing sled hockey for the USA Warriors Ice Hockey Program, a hockey group for injured veterans. 

Misiewicz continued playing after his recovery, and in 2018, he qualified for the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympic Games. 

Fast facts:

• Competing in his third Paralympic Games.
• Won gold medals in both the 2018 and 2022 Paralympic Games. 
• Earned the Purple Heart in 2011 for his service in Afghanistan.

Dani Aravich, Butler

College sports: Track and field, cross country

Paralympic sport: Para cross-country skiing

Dani Aravich, born without her left hand and forearm, competed as a cross country and track and field athlete at Butler for one year before injuries derailed her college running career. Shifting her focus to a career in sports, Aravich landed a job with the Utah Jazz after graduating in 2018. 

Soon after, a family friend suggested she look into the Paralympics. During her training for track and field in 2019, Aravich was recruited to attend a developmental camp for U.S. para Nordic skiing. Aravich made her Paralympic debut at the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021 in the women's T47 400 meters before transitioning to biathlon and cross-country skiing just over six months later at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games.

Fast facts:

• Co-founded Culxtured, a social media company that covers para sports.
• Nicknamed "Biathlon Bandit" for her signature cowboy boots and Team USA cowboy hat.

Sydney Peterson, St. Lawrence

College sport: Skiing

Paralympic sport: Para cross-country skiing

Sydney Peterson was a member of Nordic skiing team at St. Lawrence from 2020-24, serving as team captain during her senior year. While in school, Peterson also competed for the U.S. para Nordic team. She made her Paralympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Games, winning three medals. 

In 2023, Peterson underwent an invasive brain operation to address her symptoms of dystonia, a neurological disorder that has caused her to experience muscle contractions and chronic pain since she was 13. After a successful procedure and recovery, she returned to competing at the 2025 world championships.

Fast facts:

• Won gold, silver and bronze medals at the 2022 Beijing Paralympics.
• Earned her bachelor's degree from St. Lawrence in neuroscience and is now pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience at Utah.

Max Nelson, St. Scholastica

College sport: Skiing

Paralympic sport: Para cross-country skiing

Max Nelson competed for St. Scholastica's Nordic skiing team from 2023-25. Born with a rare congenital retinal disease that left him blind in his left eye and with limited vision in his right eye, Nelson began skiing in first grade. He made his first Paralympic Games in 2022 as a high school senior.

In March 2025, Nelson learned he had brain cancer, just days after turning 21. He soon underwent a successful surgery to remove the tumor. Less than a year later, Nelson is on the brink of competing in his second Paralympic Games.

Fast facts:

• Has a rare eye disease that has been studied at Carver Laboratory at Iowa.
• Credited listening to Frank Sinatra for helping him learn to speak again after his brain surgery.

Jake Adicoff, Bowdoin

College sport: Skiing

Paralympic sport: Para cross-country skiing

Jake Adicoff was introduced to cross-country skiing in his hometown of Sun Valley, Idaho, where he grew up competing for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation's Junior Nordic Development team. Adicoff, who was born visually impaired, joined the U.S. Paralympic Nordic skiing national team as a high school senior and competed in his first Paralympic Games in 2014. 

While a student-athlete on the skiing team at Bowdoin, Adicoff won a silver medal in the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang. After spending three years in retirement, he returned to professional skiing in 2021 and won three medals at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. 

Fast facts:

• Formerly worked as a software engineer after earning a mathematics and computer science degree from Bowdoin.

Tyler McKenzie, Bates

College sport: Skiing

Paralympic sport: Para Alpine skiing

Tyler McKenzie was an Alpine skier at Bates, graduating in 2014. A biking accident in 2017 caused a brachial plexus injury that damaged nerves on the left side of his spine. After multiple procedures to save his arm, McKenzie began to coach and relearn skiing himself. Becoming among the best standing para Alpine skiers in the U.S., he joined Team USA's development team last year.

Fast facts:

• Will make his Paralympic debut at the Milan Cortina Games.

Guides

Peter Wolter, Middlebury

College sport: Skiing

Paralympic sport: Para cross-country skiing

Peter Wolter will participate in his first Paralympic Games as a guide for longtime friend and cross-country skier Jake Adicoff. The duo both grew up in Idaho and competed in the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. Wolter competed as a Nordic skier at Middlebury from 2018-22.

Fast facts:

• Was a two-time NCAA All-American.
• Competed in the National Collegiate Men's and Women's Skiing Championships three times (2019, 2020 and 2022).

Reid Goble, Michigan Tech

College sport: Skiing

Paralympic sport: Para cross-country skiing

Reid Goble is on his way to the Milan Cortina Paralympic Games as a guide for cross-country skier Jake Adicoff. Goble, a former collegiate skier at Michigan Tech, met Adicoff in high school while spending his summers training in Sun Valley, Idaho.  

Fast facts:

• Competed in the 2019 and 2020 National Collegiate Men's and Women's Skiing Championships.
• Majored in human biology at Michigan Tech and aspires to attend medical school and become a physician.
• Has an older sister, Sarah, who also was a skier at Michigan Tech.

Gus Schatzlein, St. Scholastica

College sport: Skiing

Paralympic sport: Para cross-country skiing

Gus Schatzlein will compete as a guide alongside cross-country skier Max Nelson in the Milan Cortina Paralympic Games. Both Schatzlein and Nelson were collegiate skiers at St. Scholastica — Schatzlein skied at the school from 2018-22 while Nelson was on the team from 2023-25.

Fast facts:

• Was a dual-sport student-athlete at St. Scholastica, also running on the cross country team.
• Majored in biology in college and works as an environmental scientist outside of skiing.