This athletic event is all about inclusion and unity.
Palos Verdes Peninsula and Palos Verdes high schools will host its largest “Unified Track Meet” with the Special Olympics of Southern California on Thursday, March 28.
The annual event teams students with and without special needs in friendly competition.
Patrick Daley, a physical education teacher and boy’s soccer coach at Peninsula who helped organize the event, said this year’s event could be the largest in its short history.
In 2023, there were 70 students with and without special needs who took part at Peninsula High’s football stadium in Rolling Hills Estates. As of Tuesday, March 19, 80 students had registered and Daley said he believes there could be as many as 100 participating this year.
“Students are still signing up,” Daley said. “There are still students who are coming up to me during the day (to say), ‘Hey, I want to do this.’”
As in previous years, there will be a relay as well as 50-meter and 100-meter events. The event, which is open to the public and will return to the Peninsula High stadium, will take place from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Supporters will be out in force from the schools, including marching bands, choirs, cheerleaders and student spirit sections. At Palos Verdes, the spirit squads are called the “Red Tide” and at Peninsula, they are called the “Zoo.”
Peninsula joined the Special Olympics Unified Schools program in 2016.
In 2018, North High School, in Torrance, hosted the first “Unified Track Meet” with four teams, which was followed by Peninsula hosting in 2019.But then, the pandemic hit and the event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021.
In 2022, it was a Peninsula-only event, but Palos Verdes and Peninsula joined forces in 2023 to host a unified meet.
A number of groups are supporting the event, including the Peer Leaders Uniting Students program, which focuses on discussing important culture issues on campus and is advised by Daley.
The meet, Daley said, is a school community event that “brings a bunch of different people together.”
“The best thing about the day,” Daley said, “is it just gives students with special needs that inclusive high school experience that sometimes they don’t get.”