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.
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