Three eastern Washington track athletes returned recently from Santiago, Chile where they competed in the ParaPan American Games, a section of the Pan American Games that’s devoted to disabled competitors.
Teresa Skinner from the Spokane Valley organization ParaSport says Bob Hunt from Spokane won silver and bronze medals as he powered his wheelchair around a track in the 100-meter and 400-meter races. Taylor Swanson, a sprinter from Spokane, won silver medals in the 100- and 200-meter races. Alicia Guerrero, a discus thrower from Wapato, also won silver.
“It was amazing just to be with Team USA because it’s been 11 years since the last time I made it,” Hunt said.
Hunt, 33, says he’s now looking ahead to qualifying for the 2024 Paralympic Games, held in conjunction with next summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.
“I am pretty darn close,” he said. “That’s made it even stronger for me, to push myself because I saw how well I did this and I’m pretty close to it. So I was like, can’t stop now.”
Hunt not only trains 60-90 minutes/day as an athlete, he works for a local car rental agency and is a full-time student at Eastern Washington University. He also coaches basketball and track at ParaSport, which trains and supports disabled athletes.
Hunt says he enjoys serving as a role model for other para athletes “because they see how well I compete, my demeanor on the track, off the track, how I act. So then they feed off of that and how I’m keeping the culture at ParaSport.”
Swanson, 30, who also trains at ParaSport, says she used to compete in track events for able-bodied athletes and only recently discovered para athletics.
“I definitely want to do more and see where I can go from here,” she said.
Skinner, who coaches Hunt and Swanson, says two ParaSport alumni who are scholarship wheelchair athletes at the University of Illinois, also competed in Chile.
Skinner says the trip was a great opportunity for her competitors.
“All of them got that experience of what it’s like to live in a village and what it’s like to make sure you’re eating good portions and managing your food and managing your sleep and what it’s like to have a roommate,” she said.
“The athletes get completely spoiled with clothing and gear and sunglasses and shoes. There were spectacular opening ceremonies and closing ceremonies for them and the village and the people. It’s amazing and it’s kind of like a mini-Paralympics, just like it is on the Olympic side. It’s like a mini Olympics, just with the Americas,” she said.
She says she’s excited that parasports and disabled athletes are receiving more attention from the public.
“I’ve been around the system and the whole Paralympic movement since 1993, so to see it finally catching some fire here is really wonderful,” she said. “When we travel internationally, most of the athletes get stopped in the street and asked for an autograph. They get a ton of notoriety when they travel abroad. It’s not necessarily super aware when we get back to the United States, so to see that slowly changing” is a good thing.
In addition to rooting for her athletes, Skinner also hopes she’ll get another chance to coach in a major event, perhaps at the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles.
