Several Saint Peter High School students made the trip to Le Sueur on Wednesday morning for the second annual Le Sueur-Henderson Unified Track & Field Invitational at the LS-H track/athletic field. The Unified program, an initiative by the Special Olympics in its second year at LS-H, is designed to promote inclusion by granting students with disabilities a chance to engage in sports with their able-bodied peers.
In addition to Saint Peter and Le Sueur-Henderson, other schools represented at the meet included students from New Prague, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, Sibley East, Owatonna and Belle Plaine.
SPHS student-athletes making the trip included Abby Voeltz, Edson Ruiz, Connor Mugaas, Autumn Squires, Abby Schily, Logan Gessner, Calvin Stoffel, Kallie Brovold, Judd Wartman, Crystal King, Peyton Attenberger, Alex Pelayo, Ava Grunzke, Keith Erickson, and Caden Pugh.
SPHS also had several students work as volunteers at the meet including Devyn Welp, Abby Westphal, Vivian Christenson, Sammy Rubischko, Owen Potts, Noelle Simonette, Ethan Potts, Auden Anderson, Ian Wills, Brody Whipps, and Alex Korir.
Athletes could compete in a maximum of three individual events and one relay race (max of four total). Those events included the following:
Traditional Events: 25-meter dash, 50-meter dash, 100-meter run, 200-meter run, 400-meter run, 25-meter walk, and 50-meter walk.
Physical/ Device Assistance Events: 25-meter walk- device assistance & physical assistance, 50 meter walk-device assistance & physical assistance, 25-meter dash-physical assistance, 50-meter dash-physical assistance.
Wheelchair Events: 10-meter wheelchair, 25-meter wheelchair, 25-meter motorized wheelchair, 50-meter motorized wheelchair, 30-meter motorized wheelchair slalom, 25-meter motorized wheelchair obstacle.
Field Events: high jump, running long jump (1 meter minimum), shot put (3 kilograms- 6.6 pounds for ALL), tennis ball throw (15 meter maximum), softball throw (15 meter maximum), standing long jump.
Unified Events: 4x100 unified walking relay - (2 athletes, 2 partners), 4x100 unified running relay - (2 athletes, 2 partners), 100-meter unified walk (can be PA, or DA included) (scores of partners combined), 200-meter unified run (scores of partners combined), wheelchair Push - manual or motorized (1 partner/ staff, 1 student in wheelchair).
Here are some photo highlights from this year’s Unified Track & Field Meet in Le Sueur! Special thanks to SPHS's Liz Leibfried for the photos above and below!
