The 5-foot-7, 138-pound senior distance talent won the NHIAA Meet of Champions this past season, breaking the tape in a personal-best 15:12.50 and leading the Blackbirds to a fourth-place finish as a team. Velazquez also won the Division 1 state meet, finishing 14.5 seconds ahead of his next-closest competitor to help Keene capture state divisional runner-up honors. The teen’s winning MOC time was the second-fastest in meet history and his D1 championship run was the fifth-fastest in meet history. A two-time New England All Star and All-State selection, he closed out 2019 with a seventh-place finish at the New England Cross Country Championship in 15:47, sparking his team to seventh place in the region.
Velazquez has maintained a 3.57 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to run on scholarship at UMass-Lowell this fall.
A pianist, soloist and amateur composer, Velazquez has played in the Keene High band in addition to singing in the a capella and all-school choirs as well as performing in school musical theater productions and at a nursing home. He has volunteered locally as a counselor at summer youth cross country and track camps for three years running. Velazquez has also donated his time on behalf of Summer Track Nights with the City of Keene, as an official for two Memorial XC and track invitational events, and as a youth coach with the Elm City Track Club, where he prepared competitors for the 2019 Junior Olympics.