Alicia Guerrero’s Resilience Has Defined Her Life And Her Athletic Career

At her core, there is one word that defines Alicia Guerrero — a word that conveys who she is as a person, an athlete and a member of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation. 

“One word?” Guerrero said, pausing for a moment. “I would say ‘resilience.’” 

After losing her left leg in a lawnmower accident at age 2, Guerrero, now 22 years old, has emerged as one of the top collegiate Para athletes in the United States. She throws shotput and discus in the F64 category for San Diego State University, as well as for the U.S. Para national team. 

Through it all, there have been highs and lows, wins and losses. Fortunately for Guerrero, qualities such as determination, heart, and yes, resilience, don’t go into a slump.

“Things are going to happen,” Guerrero said. “(Our Tribe’s attitude is that) we’ve got to keep moving. No matter what’s happened — my accident or not making a team or having a tough competition, it’s like, ‘OK, we’ve had a hard moment, but we’ve got to continue to work. We need to have the resilience to keep going.’”

That mindset didn’t come out of nowhere. 

Indeed, the Tolowa Dee-ni’ people have been through a lot over the years. Of note, they were stripped of their federal tribal designation in the 1960s until recognition was restored in 1983. 

“It really took away a lot of people’s identities,” said Guerrero, noting that her mother speaks regularly of her ancestors’ determination to never stop fighting for what is right. “My family definitely raised me with the motto that there’s not really an option to give up. We always have to continue. There’s always the next day.”

Guerrero has always carried that motto with her, whether she’s on the field, in the classroom or just navigating her way through life.

“Growing up, I just played every sport — and there were times I didn’t want to play anymore, or I felt different because of my disability, or I didn’t feel like I was enough,” said Guerrero, who grew up in Wapato, Washington. “But I was raised with the mentality that as long as you love it and you come back again, then you deserve to have a spot.”

Over the last year, she has more than earned that spot. 

Guerrero began 2025 by being inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame in January. At the USA Track & Field Para National Championships this past summer, she followed that honor by setting an Americas record in the women’s shotput F64 with a throw of 10.26 meters. She punctuated her memorable year in October by winning bronze in both the shotput and discus at the World Para Athletics Championships. 

“The opportunity to make my worlds debut on that stage was super exciting, and to come back with two bronze medals was even more special,” said Guerrero, who competes with a prosthetic on her left leg. “I trained for over a year, and I stayed strong through the ups and downs of training, so I was super excited with the result.”

Guerrero began her collegiate career at Illinois, where she competed in wheelchair basketball while also throwing for the track-and-field team. After taking a gap year in 2023-24, Guerrero transferred to San Diego State prior to her junior year, which has been a rousing success. 

“It’s definitely something I do not regret,” said Guerrero, who is studying Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on elementary education, women’s studies and American Indian studies.

She values the time she spent in Champaign, but she believes she made the right call leaving wheelchair basketball behind to focus full time on discus and shotput.

“Here, I feel like I have a lot more responsibilities,” she said. “I get to shine a little bit more. We have a smaller program here compared to the wheelchair basketball program at Illinois, so we get more individualized attention. So, yeah, I’ve greatly enjoyed my time so far here at San Diego State.”

If nothing else, Guerrero certainly prefers the San Diego climate.

“Absolutely,” she said, laughing. “I’ll definitely take this weather over the ice storms of the Midwest.”

Speaking of beautiful days in Southern California, Guerrero would love nothing more than to make her Paralympic debut at the Los Angeles Games in 2028 and end up on the podium.

After all, as far as Guerrero is concerned, there is nothing more powerful than wearing the red, white and blue.

“It definitely is a sense of pride,” she said. “What’s more patriotic than a Native American girl on Team USA? It’s a big thing. There’s not been many athletes who are Native American to have that opportunity.” 

That’s why it was so crushing when Guerrero failed to make the 2024 Paralympics in Paris. But in the wake of that disappointment, she leaned on that one word that fuels everything she does — and everything she is.

Resilience. 

“It was a little heartbreaking when I didn’t make the team at first, but I came back and hit it harder,” Guerrero said. “I came back stronger than ever. I told myself, ‘I know I can get through this. I know this is going to be great.’”

Drew Silverman is a freelance contributor to usatf.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.