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Making strides in the local Cross Country scene is sibling duo Susan and Jeffrey Bergemen.
The Chippewa Falls High School juniors have been a part of the cross-country team since they were in sixth grade, but the road to this point hasn’t been easy. At first, they were told they couldn’t participate on the team because Susan pushes Jeffrey in a special racing wheelchair. But since it is illegal to deny students based on ability, the WIAA allowed them to join the team as “participants” but not “competitors,” meaning they can’t contribute to the team’s score and cannot pass the finish line until all of the competitors have, despite how fast Susan and Jeffrey are.
In fact, their first meet of the season in August resulted in the two hitting a three-minute personal record, with their time beating more than 25 other runners. Yet they had to wait at the finish line for an extra 20 minutes for the last runners to cross.
This rightly frustrated the pair, so at the next meet in Menomonie on Sept. 9, they decided to hold a protest and reached out to the other teams participating to see if they would join Susan and Jeffrey by walking the entire course.
“I was honestly expecting to have like five people walk with us,” Susan said. “But by the end of the course, we had over 80 people, from other teams and other coaches, walking with us, and so we finished that course just walking.”
Entering their senior year next year, the Bergemans are still pushing for disability inclusion, which is why they are in the process of starting a new Duos Division, where teams such as themselves can compete. Susan says going on this journey with Jeffrey has brought the two closer together since they can go through these challenges together.
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2023 HONOREES
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