On his final long jump attempt of the day, Center Grove’s Allen Schwedler decided he needed to add some more showmanship.
So Schwedler made the strides of his approach a bit more pronounced, and after landing his jump, he flopped backward as if preparing to make some sand angels.
Hopping up, he placed his hands on his back and winced, pantomiming an “oh, the agony” expression to maximum effect as he walked back to where his teammates were watching.
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Once Schwedler got there, he coolly sat down on the infield and smiled as if nothing was wrong.
Such smiles were in abundance during Thursday’s Unified track and field meet at Franklin, which featured athletes from Center Grove, Franklin and Columbus North — and while there were, technically, winners declared in each event, every single competitor came away flashing a championship grin.
Which is kind of the whole point.
“It’s more relaxed,” said Franklin junior Shayla Jones, who has participated in Unified since the school first formed a team her freshman year. “It’s more about being a family and a team than competing and seeing who comes in first. … We’re all here together to have fun.”
Unified track and field, which has been an IHSAA-sponsored sport since the spring of 2014, allows high school students with special needs and disabilities to engage in athletic competition alongside their peers, many of whom participate in other varsity sports in the fall and winter.
Franklin coach Haley Anderson keeps a clipboard during each meet with a rundown of who is competing in each heat of each event. Nowhere on that sheet does it specify which athletes have disabilities and which ones don’t.
“You’re not supposed to know who’s who,” Anderson said. “That way kids don’t feel labeled.”
“I love the idea of inclusion of everyone,” added Franklin junior Clara Havener, who has also been with the team since the inaugural season in 2017. “Unified track is unity. It doesn’t matter if you have any special needs or not. … It’s great for them, and it definitely changes their lives.”
And those changes can come from the most seemingly insignificant of achievements. Holly White, who is in her second year coaching the Center Grove team along with fellow special education teacher Adam Clark, pointed out the progress made by Pooja Patel, who was participating in the long jump during Thursday’s meet.
Patel was on the team a year ago but didn’t compete in any meets — she was too gun-shy about even going outside to the track. This spring, she’s out there in full force, and White couldn’t be prouder.
“That is what it’s all about,” the coach said. “Maybe I should be more like, ‘Jump farther!’ but I don’t think that’s what Unified is about.”
It’s about kids like Schwedler hamming it up. It’s about a Columbus North athlete being surrounded by cheering teammates as he pushes his wheelchair to the 100-meter dash finish line. It’s about finding a different sort of competitive spirit than one finds on the football field or the basketball court.
“I’ve made a lot of friends; they’re like family to me,” Jones said. “It’s just a great experience.
“We’re all athletes here. … If we support each other, we rally around each other, you can do anything.”
