By Kristine Brite
INDIANAPOLIS — Two years ago, doctors warned he might never play sports again.
This year, he began training for the 2007 OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, and came in fourth in the wheelchair division with a time of 59 minutes 6 seconds, a personal best.
Josh Swoverland, a freshman at Avon High School, stood out among his competition in the 13.1-mile race, earning the Indianapolis Life 500 Festival Celebrating Life Award for the challenges he faced and overcame.
Each year, three race participants earn the award for beating the odds and overcoming life’s challenges.
Swoverland, 15, was born with a narrow spinal cord and scolliosis, meaning he can’t walk. That did little to hold him back as he went on to participate in racing, basketball, swimming, and water-skiing.
Two years ago, his prognosis became even worse when he underwent extensive back surgery in the spring of 2005.
Mark Seitz, who works with Swoverland’s father Mark Swoverland at Eli Lilly, nominated Josh for the award. The Carmel resident ran in this year’s race. In his nomination form, he remembered Swoverland’s prognosis two years ago.
“Doctors warned that Josh would never be able to compete again in the sporting events that he loved so much ... no basketball, no wheelchair racing,” Seitz said.
After months at home, unable to use his wheelchair or attend school, Swoverland began to regain his strength. His mother, Judie, quit her job to be by his side, and by March 2006 he was shooting hoops with younger brother Nathan, 12, in his driveway. He rejoined his wheelchair basketball team, the Fort Wayne Flyers, starting as a freshman.
Each winner of the Celebrating Life award gets the opportunity to donate $5,000 to a charity. Swoverland chose an organization that has supported his athletic efforts, Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana Sports Program.
Grandparents Ron and Joy Ebard stood at the finish line waiting for Swoverland. Ron Ebard said his grandson exhibits phenomenal basketball talent, and thinks he will one day earn a basketball scholarship.
“A lot of kids in his situation would crawl up on the couch and play video games all day,” he said while watching his grandson down water and eat a cookie to recuperate from the race.
This wasn’t Swoverland’s first 500 mini-marathon. He competed at 10 years old in 2001 as one of the race’s youngest competitors finishing in 1:17. At 11 years old, he came in at 1:15, and at 12, he finished in 1:06.
He said the race taxes his back and shoulders the most. After finishing this year, he said he was exhausted and planned to sleep the rest of the afternoon, but Judie Swoverland said her son recovered quickly and was shooting baskets in the driveway the next afternoon.
The race exhausted him mentally as well. Unlike previous races, Swoverland said he didn’t have fellow wheelchair racers by his side, and he came in well before the first runner crossed the line at 1:04. He said that made the race more difficult.
“There’s nobody to push you to go faster,” he said.
He joined the AHS track team this year, something he said might have helped him cut his time. He competes alongside his able-bodied classmates, but not against them. He races in the 800, 1600, and 3200-meter events, striving to beat his own best times.
After he finished, Swoverland and his family waited for the man who nominated him to finish his race. Seitz found the Swoverlands and talked about the role Josh Swoverland played in his race.
“When I’m running and I’m debating whether this is a lot of fun or a lot of work, I think of him and it keeps me going,” Seitz said. “He’s an inspiration.”
kristine.brite@flyergroup.com
