Written by Michael Paltzer, Ryan Tattersall
It was the state championship meet, as the Wallenpaupack Unified Track team looked to win its second state championship. This was Paupack’s first appearance in states since they won their first title in 2021. This year, however, the team finished a very respectable third. We interviewed Dr. Schkolenko about the event, and this is what she said regarding this year’s team. “We have 21 people on the team but only 12 were allowed to go to states.”
When asked about how the team performed as a unit, Dr. Schkolenko replied, “We compete as a team, so everybody competed in a track event and then a field event, and the field events are either the mini javelin, the shop put, or the long jump. Then we had a 4 by 100 relay team compete as well. So, we did pretty well overall as a team, we finished third.”
Regarding the team’s bronze medal showing, Coach Schkolenko said, “I think it’s a great way to end the season on a high note. There were a lot of extraordinary individual efforts as well from our participants, and seeing everyone give everything they had for the sake of the team is really awesome.”
Not that the meet and the season are finished, Coach Schkolenko has begun to focus on the 2024 Unified team. “We have some seniors (who will graduate next week) but we have a lot of people coming back.”
Finally, Coach Schkolenko addressed the importance of the meet as well as the overall experience for our athletes to participate in a meet of this magnitude. “So, the meet is a huge track meet, and there are like 3,000 fans for this whole thing. Itis just a giant stadium, and everything inside the stadium is in one place so it is amazing to be there and compete there. It is a huge learning experience for athletes who are coming back whohave done this, so hopefully we can get back there next year.”
