WAUWATOSA — Hundreds of Wisconsin high school athletes will compete at the WIAA State Track & Field Tournament in La Crosse.
Athlete Kade Lubner will not be racing. The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) does not have a division for athletes like him to race competitively.
Kade has cerebral palsy. He and other athletes with a standing disability remain on the sidelines or can only compete on junior varsity.
The Wauwatosa East sophomore is no stranger to competing on the national stage, holding records in the U17 800, 1500, and 3000 meter races in the cerebral palsy disability class. He also holds the record for the U20 800-meter race.
“The fact that they can more than likely represent Team USA in the Paralympics but he can’t run in the state meet in high school is unbelievable to me,” said Lubner.
Now, he wants to show what he can do at the state level against athletes like him.
“It feels like you’re not in it,” said Lubner. “You are missing out on a lot of stuff.”
TMJ4 reached out to the WIAA on behalf of Liz and Kade as to why the WIAA does not have a competitive ambulatory division.
A spokesperson referred TMJ4 to the bylaws of the organization on expanding and creating a new division in a tournament series.
They went on to say, “If and when the member schools bring requests for consideration, we review and evaluate those requests through the membership's defined decision-making process.”
“It’s kind of shocking to me that the WIAA won’t even talk to us about it or try to understand what it means and how you could set standards for kids with disabilities to compete,” said Liz.
She and other parents have reached out several times to the WIAA.
Parents like Liz need athletic directors to get on board in order to add the division, according to WIAA bylaws.
Over a dozen states have a competitive ambulatory division for track and field. States like Iowa and Pennsylvania have just added this division to their state tournaments.
TMJ4 spoke to the mom who helped make it happen in Pennsylvania and how the first few years have gone for those athletes.
"I don’t even know how to describe it,” said Darla Clayton. “It’s pretty emotional to see these kids be able to show the world how amazing they are.”
TMJ4 spoke with Cindy Housner, the executive director and founder of the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association. It’s an organization Kade is a part of.
She says that if the state creates this division, more athletes will look to join.
Now, Kade and Liz are working on gathering more high school students and parents to join a coalition in order to help these athletes get to the state stage.
Kade will be participating in a triathlon this weekend down in Indiana.
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