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04-25-07 CLARK COUNTY TWILIGHT MEET AT COLUMBIA RIVER |
CLARK COUNTY TWILIGHT MEET AT COLUMBIA RIVER, TRACK AND FIELD
| Wednesday, April 25, 2007
| The Columbian staff writer
| | | Kaleb Kallappa's dream is coming true.
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In the winter, Kallappa, a sophomore from Columbia River, was part of a group that was trying to get the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association to allow for wheelchair athletes to compete for their schools at state competitions.
The WIAA agreed, and this May, at the state track and field championships, wheelchair athletes will no longer be part of a demonstration. They will earn points for their schools. Kallappa, who was born with spina bifida, will not forget when he heard the news. He was lying in bed, just waking up for the day when his mother relayed the good news."I was so excited. I woke up my dad in the next room because I was yelling so loud," Kallappa said. Kallappa plans on making it to state this year, then return for his junior and senior seasons.
On Friday, though, he was again part of a demonstration, this time at his school's invitational twilight meet. Wheelchair athletes from the Seattle area and from Portland competed. No surprise, Kallappa won the 1,600-meter event.. His biggest victory this year, though, came from the offices of the WIAA.
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