Tag: jbailey@denverpost.com

LAKEWOOD — Lochlan Walker was still winded and hunched over from his 100-meter dash when his mom, Paige, mobbed him with the news of his personal record time of 12.48 seconds.

They smiled simultaneously and shared a moment they won’t soon forget as Walker, a Fairview High School senior, notched the fastest time for a Special Olympic/Paralympic athlete on Thursday afternoon at the 2024 CHSAA state track and field meet at Jeffco Stadium.

About an hour later, Walker also recorded the best Special Olympic/Paralympic time in the 200 meters, at 25.92. Those marks made him the fastest disabled athlete in the state, but more importantly, offered proof that his differences don’t matter out on the track.

“The Fairview team has been so accepting of Lochlan. It’s been a whole lot of ‘you can do this’ since his sophomore year,” an emotional Paige Walker said. “There has been no difference in the way his teammates treat him. It’s not, ‘That’s Lochlan and he runs Unified.’ It’s, ‘That’s Lochlan and he’s on our team.’

“For him, that’s been really good to not feel different. And for me, it’s not just my excitement for what he’s doing, but the excitement of kids who have (historically) been pushed to the side to get on this stage and do this. They get to run. You can talk about inclusivity all you want, but talking about it and seeing it are two different things.”

CHSAA has run a Special Olympic/Paralympic 100-meter dash since 2000, according to CHSAA track commissioner Jenn Roberts-Uhlig. In recent years, the organization added other sprint events as well as field events (long jump, shot put, discus). What began with one heat in the 100-meter dash in 2000 has since expanded to 17 heats across the 100 and 200 meters this year.

The events remain exhibitions, with any Special Olympic/Paralympic athlete eligible to compete, even without a qualifying time/distance.

But on Thursday, that unofficial status made no difference to Walker, an 18-year-old with autism and a receptive speech delay whose ultimate goal is to compete in the Special Olympics World Games.

“People say that I am the fastest (Special Olympian) in the state, and yes, I am,” a grinning Lochlan said after winning the 100. “I’m hoping to get into Special Olympics soon, so I can be great at this sport for many years. My mom and I just need to figure out how to do that. But the past three years, the coolest part is being able to see my friends during track, supporting them, seeing them support me.”

CHSAA’s 100-meter dash for disabled athletes is officially named for Geoffrey Zaragoza, an Alamosa student who dealt with developmental disorders. Geoffrey was the son of renowned local track/cross country coach Larry Zaragoza, who spent 45 years coaching and won 11 state titles across the two sports.

After Geoffrey died from the effects of an enlarged heart in 2003, then-CHSAA track and field commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green renamed the Special Olympic/Paralympic 100-meter dash after him in 2004. Geoffrey was a manager for the Mean Moose, and was known for his infectious energy around the track.

Jenna Taylor said Geoffrey’s legacy lives on through the 100-meter dash and continues to prove that those with disabilities “might be different, but they’re not less.” Taylor was Zaragoza’s classmate at Alamosa. She went on to found a non-profit in Austin, Texas, called Independent Identity, a day program center for adults with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities that was born out of Geoffrey’s memory.

“Not only do people with disabilities find value in being included and treated like a person, I think everyone else gets a lot of value from being around people with special needs or disabilities,” Taylor said. “They bring a different outlook and positivity, so the community needs to learn how to interact with someone with autism, how to interact with someone with an intellectual disability.

While most of the competitors in the Special Olympic/Paralympic events embedded within the CHSAA state track program are students with intellectual disabilities, there is also a handful of Paralympic athletes. Currently, Special Olympians (also referred to as Unified athletes or adaptive athletes) compete alongside Paralympic athletes, who have physical impairments but not intellectual disabilities.

For the Paralympic athletes, at least one runner on Thursday pined for a para-specific competition at the state meet.

“I wish it was more physical disabilities I was racing against,” said Banning Lewis Academy senior Jason Dunnock, who blew away his heat in the 100 meters alongside Special Olympics athletes and was the fastest Para athlete in the event at 14.53 seconds. “I want to run against other Para athletes and see what I can do.”

Dunnock has fanconi anemia, a rare inherited disease characterized by physical abnormalities, bone marrow failure, and a higher-than-normal risk of sickness. He had to receive a bone marrow transplant as part of his treatment, and has learned to adapt to living with abnormal arms and hands.

For athletes such as Dunnock, John Register also argues the Paralympic races should be standalone, with official times and classifications as determined by the International Paralympic Committee.

Register, who has served as one of the announcers at state track for the past six years, was a three-time All-American at Arkansas who lost his left leg following an accident while training for the hurdles for the 1996 Olympic Games. After that, he became a two-time Paralympian who made the 1996 Games as a swimmer and then won a silver medal in long jump at the 2000 Games.

“I do want people to understand the difference between the two,” Register said. “Somebody might stop a race in the Special Olympics and help someone across the finish line — that ain’t happening in Paralympic sport.”

Roberts-Uhlig called the Special Olympics/Paralympics events “one of the greatest things we do here at state track,” and the rousing reaction from the grandstands during the 100- and 200-meter races backed up that sentiment.

Nick Dixon, the Unified coach for Gateway, said “the smiles at the finish line are always the most rewarding.” Dixon, who is also a paraprofessional at Gateway, wants to see opportunities for his Special Olympics/Paralympics athletes increase in coming years.

“I would like to see this sport sanctioned like Unified bowling is,” Dixon said. “I would like track sanctioned, basketball, everything our Unified athletes do be sanctioned by CHSAA. That’s the next step.”

Roberts-Uhlig says that’s an “ongoing conversation with all Unified sports” at the CHSAA level. Unified bowling was sanctioned in 2019, and several districts have Unified/Special Olympic track meets in some form.

In the meantime, athletes like Walker and Dunnock continue to embody the spirit of inclusion that’s been the case for the last 25 state track meets that have featured Special Olympic/Paralympic events.

“We get into this narrative of the overcoming story, when in actuality, we’re just allowing (disabled athletes) to do what everyone else wants to do,” Register said. “Like all high school students, they’re just trying to find themselves, and this makes it just a little bit easier.”