As Manhattan High track and field prepares for the state meet in Wichita, one of the athletes prepared for the podium is junior Hanna Pellant.
Pellant, a versatile athlete who participates in long jump, 100 meters, 200 meters, 4x100 meter relay and 4x400 meter relay, has burst into the record books recently.
Three weeks ago, the Indians took their talents to Salina Central as Pellant broke a 27-year-old school record not once, but twice. She took care of business in the 100m preliminaries, timing an 11.72 mark before clocking an official finals time of 11.79.
Both of her times topped the 1997 mark of 11.90, although Pellant believed she was running “really slow” in the moment.
While Pellant’s prowess on the track is the athletic headliner — her life outside track and field justifies as much attention.
When her cleats aren’t laced up, Pellant volunteers as a coach for the Manhattan Special Olympics Track Club, facilitating the track and field experience for all ages of the special needs community.
Pellant discovered the club through Manhattan High, in part due to the school’s interpersonal skills class. IPS is an inclusion course that consists of students with and without disabilities, providing a welcoming space for students to discuss disabilities.
One of the main connections between IPS and the Manhattan Special Olympics Track Club is Jamie Schnee, MHS’ IPS instructor and the club’s coach.
“We talk pretty openly about disabilities and our whole goal is to be the example of inclusion and show people that we all have differences, disability or not,” Schnee said. “(We) break down the stigma and all the words negative words attached with the word disability and show everybody we can make the world a better place.”
Since registering to become a volunteer coach, Pellant said it’s been a very rewarding experience.
“It’s been great, I love them so much,” she said. “They just made my day 100 times better if I’m having like the worst day ever. And they’re so funny — they humbled me a lot.”
One of the club’s youngest — and newest — members is Pellant’s nine-year-old brother, Gage Wisdom, who suffered from a stroke at birth, leading to cerebral palsy and right-sided weakness. However, his complications have not prohibited him from pursuing athletic competition.
“He just has the best time ever, he doesn’t really focus on times — which is really surprising because I know a lot of us do focus on times,” Pellant said. “The fact that they don’t care and they just try to have as much fun as they can — it’s just really refreshing to see.”
Hanna Pellant talks with one of the athletes on the Manhattan Special Olympics Track Club during a practice May 13 at Eisenhower Recreation Center in Manhattan. Pellant is a volunteer coach for the team.
The club competed in a meet at Shawnee Heights last month. Pellant was able to make time outside of her own athletic obligations to travel with the squad, allowing her to see her brother set career-firsts with a pair of podium placements: 3rd in the 50m run and turbo javelin.
Pellant said any time her brother sets new personal records it brings more joy than her own accomplishments, adding that having the sport to bond over is priceless.
“It makes me really happy because then it’s one thing that we can talk about all the time,” she said. “He’ll come to me and talk about, ‘How are you so fast, I want to be fast too.’”
The Manhattan Special Olympics Club will travel to Maize on May 31 for their state tournament. It falls a week after high school state competition as the duo will look to set records in back-to-back weeks.
Schnee said that Pellant’s presence with the club has been fantastic, highlighting her innate ability to see the best in people and bring it into the world. This is a trend she sees exemplified around her brother.
“Some of our best examples of inclusion are sibling pairs,” Schnee said. “People can look to Hanna as an example of how to be more inclusive, how to be kind to everyone. Hanna teaches me every day just by being herself, how to be patient and kind and accepting.”
Pellant sees her dedication to the special needs community lasting a lifetime, including pursuing a potential career path that would allow her to continue to give back.
Currently, Pellant has received interest from local schools including Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Ottawa. With her senior year still to come, the list is sure to grow — not only in line with records falling — but with Pellant’s continued commitment to supporting those around her.
