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July 2019 THE BEACON Page 1B
S
BEACON
PORTS
SCENE
By
Chris Jack
Nobbe
Zoller
beaconsports
@live.com
sports@goBEACONnews.com
Unified Track and
Field Offers Great Fun
and Opportunity
The Unified Track and Field
program offered by the Indiana
High School Athletic Association
(IHSAA) since 2014, is a
cooperative effort of both the
IHSAA and Indiana Special
Olympics. By
I recently Maxine had the honor of
starting a
Klump
unified track and
field meet Community between Lawrenceburg
High Correspondent School and Franklin
County High School. While
one hundred sixteen schools in
neklump.thebeacon@yahoo.com
the state offer this sport, these
are the only two schools in the
area currently fielding teams.
The meet was preceded with
the fanfare of Senior Night for
both Lawrenceburg’s track and
field team and unified team.
Unified teams compete long
jump and shot put for the field
events.
Unified track and field is
serious in its competition
while the competitors are also
extremely supportive and encouraging
of one another. With
each jump in the long jump,
cheers and encouragement
were heard from both teams
as well as the fans. These
kids showed great effort and
technique in their approaches
and jumps.
Meanwhile, shot put was
taking place across the track
and field complex. Just as in
many other track meets, one
athlete had to manage his time
to get between both events for
his jumps and throws.
In unified track and field,
partner athletes compete as
well as help other athletes
learn better technique. It is
a varsity sport, and make no
mistake, all of these athletes
have put in the hours of practice,
effort, and research that
allows them to do their events
well. The athletes learn how
to persevere through struggle
and hardship and to become
stronger in many aspects of
their characters.
As the athletes finished the
two field events, the 100-meter
Cory Bishop competed in
the long jump.
Elizabeth Ariens- Franklin
County Relay.
Roxie Moisil, an exchange
student from Romania.
dash began. A test fire was
done from my gun to assure
all were aware of what they
would hear and be ready to
react. Enthusiasm abounded
as each runner made strides in
the race and in life.
Franklin County head coach
Katina Sirbak, who also serves
as the county coordinator for
Special Olympics, had many
praises for her team and the
great strides they have made
throughout the season:
“Audra Lovins and Kennedy
Kiracofe are team captains.
Audra Lovins has improved
so much not only as an athlete
but in her everyday life. She
is more willing to step out
of her comfort zone and take
chances she never would have.
Her parents report she is much
happier and confident and her
friend base has grown.
“This is Kennedy’s fourth
year participating in Unified
Track. She has improved her
long jump just this season by
3’6”. Makayla Bradley is a
first-year Unified Track member
and PR’ed at this meet in
the long jump by 3’.”
Coach Melinda Miller of
the Lawrenceburg team also
shares a great deal of enthusiasm
for the efforts and
improvements of her athletes.
The kids are ready to compete
in the state tournament series.
Roxie Moisil is an exchange
student from Romania who
participates as part of Franklin
County’s team. Moisil has
stated, “I love Unified Track
and never want to participate
in sports unless it’s unified.”
She has been inspired in such
a way that she hopes to take
the experience of being a unified
athlete back to her home
country and help to grow the
culture and movement there.
She also has continued to
make athletic improvements
throughout the season and
dropped an entire second off
of her 100-meter dash time.
Another Franklin County
athlete who has stood out to
Coach Sirbak is freshman
Cory Bishop. Cory was reluctant
and timid with his participation
early in the season,
sometimes not even completing
an event because he would
become discouraged. However,
through constant coaching
and team participation, Cory
has improved greatly from
the Unified program. Coach
Sirbak calls him their star athlete
as he is the fastest runner
on the team and has dropped
an incredible 38 seconds off
his best time. She states of
Cory, “It’s been an amazing
experience watching him
grow in self-confidence and in
becoming such a huge part of
our team. He is now pushing
himself to complete every
event.” Even better is the fact
that Cory’s parents and teacher
have seen a remarkable change
in his attitude and approach to
many things.
During the 4 x 100 relay,
each team was able to advance
the baton around the track;
however, along with the baton,
they passed along an energy
that swelled until the anchor
brought the baton and the
team’s success to the finish
line. All were proud of their
efforts, and the coaches certainly
were a part of that feeling
by what they have invested
in these teams and athletes.
Let’s hope that more schools
are able to bring this varsity
sport into the area so that more
and more will enjoy the wonderful
nature of the athletes
choosing to be a part of the
Unified Track and Field movement
in the state.
New Hurdle Record at SD/EC wins 19th title in 20 years
South Dearborn junior
Grace Quinlan broke the
school’s 100-meter intermediate
hurdle twice in one night
at the IHSAA Sectional on
May 14. Quinlan broke the record
of 16.04 held by Maggie
Smith since 2006 when she
ran a 15.85 in the preliminary
heat. Quinlan would break
her own record a short time
later in the finals by running
a 15.58. Quinlan would go
on to also be a repeat sectional
champion in the 300
low hurdles (46.36) and place
second in the high jump with
a leap of 5’1”.
The East Central Lady
Trojans would capture their
19th sectional title in the past
twenty years. EC had two
races setting sectional records.
Eva Grimm broke her
own sectional record in the
Grace Quinlan (Photo courtesy
of Marissa Lacey)
200-meter dash by running
25.66 and dropping .21 off her
old record. The 4 x 400-meter
relay team of Grimm, Ellie
Lengerich, Lily Greiwe,
and Emma Fey ran a time of
South Dearborn senior
Austin Boggs was doubly
happy after his winning
vault of 13’8” captured the
IHSAA Sectional and broke
the school record. (photo
courtesy of Kathy Boggs)
4:04.99 to knock more than
a second off the old sectional
record. All four relay members
were also multi-event
winners on the night.
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