The atmosphere at Sedona Red Rock High School’s John Ordean Memorial Stadium was electric.

All of the athletes wore their respective colors, pop- up tents covered the stands below the press box and Sedona Police Chief David McGill and Red Rock Principal Darrin Karuzas were on the microphone announcing events and winners. There was an endless amount of cheers and smiles, and there was even an opening ceremony.

Special Olympics Arizona’s Mountain Area held its annual area track meet in Sedona for the first time on Saturday, April 21. Nearly 400 athletes from nine teams participated in a number of track, field and weightlifting events with the aim of qualifying for the 2018 Summer Games, to be held Thursday through Saturday, May 3 to 5.

One of the teams competing was the newest at Red Rock: The Sedona Red Rockers, a Unified team that made its competitive debut on its home turf, and it signified much more than just competing for a spot at a bigger competition.

“Some of them are terrified of being around crowds, and they can handle this. Others have problems with loud noise, and they’re able to handle this. They’re motivated to be here, so it’s helping to overcome other obstacles they have,” said Tiffany Wilson, the Red Rockers junior high school coach. “The biggest benefit is a lot of them weren’t getting the exercise they needed. Now they’re getting it and that peer exposure that maybe they were lacking.”

Around 70 volunteers, many from the Red Rock senior and junior high schools, lent a hand with handing out medals and directing the various events. Arizona Sen. Steve Smith [District 11] also stopped by the event, after having met Red Rock seventh grader Aldo Lara Ayala, a Unified athlete, weeks ago.

Athletes competed in field events like the turbojav — throwing a soft, torpedo-shaped object — the softball throw, running long jump and standing long jump. Track events included the widely popular 400-meter walk, the 25-meter run, 100-meter walk and 800-meter run. The two weightlifting events were bench press and deadlift.

The Mountain Area is one of six in Arizona, which covers an area “from Prescott to Page, and Winslow to Williams,” said Rubett Garcia, Mountain Area director. Three local teams participated in the event: Rainbow Acres, Verde Valley and the Sedona Red Rockers.

The Red Rockers, in their first year of existence, are known as a Unified team. Unified teams pair a student partner with a special needs athlete to help them during training. There are five Red Rockers pairings, four from the high school and one from the junior high school.

“All of these athletes are academically successful and included into the [general education] population,” said Kathy Hughes, Red Rockers senior high school coach. “They’re not just athletes, they’re also successful students within our population at Sedona Red Rock.”

Red Rock eighth grader Jeremiah Parker is Ayala’s partner. Ayala has spina bifida, a birth defect that affects the development of a baby’s spinal cord, and is in a wheelchair.

“So much fun. I did the wheelchair race and shot put,” Ayala said. “I just don’t know what to say.”

He won a gold medal for the 100-meter wheelchair race, but more remarkable is the fact that he competed in the first place. The partnerships must spend at least eight weeks training in order to compete. During that time, not only was there an improvement in physical fitness, but in confidence and comfort.

“I feel like this is helping him a lot with not only physical health, but also verbal. He used to be really, really shy, and he wouldn’t talk to people, and I feel like with this he’s growing with this part of a big team. Especially with the teachers, they’ll help him talk a lot with other people and be social with other friends,” said Victor Lara, Ayala’s older brother and a Unified partner. “He also has a good partner as well, and he’s around his age, so I feel like that’s helping him out to be more social because it’s not like an adult.”

Even though it is easy to assume that the athletes gain more from the partners, the partners learn a lot more about their athletes’ conditions and what it is like to be in their shoes.

“It just seems really positive. The athletes here, they seem like they’re ready to go, and they want to do this,” Parker said. “I never really thought about how it would be to be in his condition, and hanging out with him and stuff, it’s really not that different. It’s just not having the ability to do certain things, but there’s always a way.”

Wilson said she has wanted a Unified team at the school for the last five years. Trish Alley, director of special education at Sedona Oak-Creek School District, and Jackie McQuaid, the school’s resource officer, help put the program together.

“It has done more than I thought it could for my kids. It’s amazing how much I’ve seen Aldo grow since the beginning of the school year to this year,” Wilson said. “I give a goal to him, and he doesn’t just meet it, he goes and makes sure he masters it.”

Being that it is the first year, the Red Rockers cannot participate in the Arizona Interscholastic Association. Beginning next year, and as the program grows, Alley said she hopes to add other sports like swimming or bocce ball. Athletes can earn a letter for a letterman jacket, too.

Garcia explained that Unified is the new direction in which Special Olympics is moving, with the ultimate goal of inclusion.

“That’s to bring awareness and break down those barriers, so you don’t label your friend as [having] Down syndrome. They’re just your friend,” Garcia said. “Special Olympics will always have that traditional component, but we are moving towards Unified because we want equality for everybody.”