MSU Denver Athletics

Qualities that made Courtney Ryan a great soccer player at MSU Denver would also make her one of the best wheelchair basketball players in the world.

Ryan, whose All-American soccer career with the Roadrunners was cut short in a 2010 game after she suffered an injury that would eventually leave her paralyzed from the belly button down, returned to her athletic identity as a member of Team USA in wheelchair basketball just two years later.
 
And, after taking some time away from the national team, she eventually returned and was part of the bronze-medal winning team at the 2021 Paralympics in Tokyo.

As a Roadrunner, she earned All-America first team honors in 2009, when she recorded 15 assists (still the fourth-highest total in program history at the time of her induction). Also at the time of her induction, she ranked fourth in program history in assists per game (0.41) and was tied for eighth all-time with 22 career assists despite playing less than 2 ½ seasons.
 
Her freshman season of 2008, MSU Denver was 20-2-3 and reached the Division II national semifinals, and her sophomore year the Roadrunners were 21-1-2 and 16-0 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.