Bloomsday 2023: Susannah Scaroni wins fifth women’s wheelchair title; Evan Correll wins men’s title in first attempt

Susannah Scaroni has won some big races in her career.

The three-time Paralympian and gold medal winner in the women’s 5,000 meters T54 event in the 2021 Summer Games in Tokyo added a Boston Marathon title to her resume in April.

But Bloomsday will always hold a special place in her heart.

Scaroni, the 31-year-old from Tekoa, won her fifth Lilac Bloomsday 12 -km race on Sunday in Spokane with a time of 30.02, just four seconds behind her course record of 29:58 set in 2019. It was her 16th Bloomsday.

“I felt so great,” Scaroni said at the awards ceremony. “It was a beautiful day and we had amazing fans along the way. It was a great day.”

Winning on her “home course” has a different feel.

“I grew up here,” she said. “I feel like I’m the result of all the love and support and resources I was given. So, it’s nice to be back and represent that.”

Bloomsday has a smaller wheelchair division compared to some of the other national and international races Scaroni participates in. She ends up competing against herself most of time.

“I lost to myself from 2019,” she joked. “I was four seconds faster then. So, I have work to do for next year.”

But Scaroni, pursuing a master’s degree at University of Illinois, still felt like she did what she wanted to do in the race.

“I got to push as hard as I could. I tried to go up every hill as fast as I could and I feel great about it,” she said.

The win in Boston was an experience she won’t forget. But she said it also had a familiar feeling.

“It feels like it does for almost every race, because I always try to go as fast as I can,” she said. “And I was able to do that in Boston.

“But you know, being at the front (of the leaders), I really felt lifted by the crowds. We had some not great weather, but I just felt so blessed and lifted. I’m grateful to have won because I do get to represent all the people in our communities that have helped me get to there.”

Shortly after returning to her home in Illinois from the Tokyo Games in 2021, Scaroni was hit from behind by a car in a training accident that caused a burst fracture of her T8 vertebrae.

She’s found a renewed feeling of accomplishment since the accident and her return to racing.

“I feel a different sense of appreciation to be able to get to the start line even,” she said. “No matter what you’re going through, it’s a joy to get to be alive and to get to be around people who love you.”

Hannah Babalola from Nigeria was second at 41:22 and University of Illinois sophomore Hannah Dederick – a 20-year-old former ParaSport Spokane athlete, Central Valley graduate and U.S. 2020 Paralympian – placed third at 41:27.

Correll wins men’s wheelchair race

Evan Correll, a 19-year-old University of Illinois sophomore from Waukee, Iowa, won the men’s wheelchair division with a time of 28:35 in his first effort at Bloomsday.

“I felt amazing,” he said. “Pretty good course, pretty nice weather. I’m just grateful to be out here.”

Correll in particular appreciated the live music throughout the course.

“It definitely seemed like a really good vibe overall in general.”

The first-timer was challenged by Doomsday Hill.

“That was pretty hard,” he said. “That was definitely a slap to the face for sure. I wasn’t expecting it to be that difficult.”

Correll’s Illinois teammates Phillip Croft – a 23-year-old ParaSport Spokane alumnus who attended Valley Christian School – and Jason Robinson (Rome, New York) were second and third with times of 30:22 and 30:45 respectively.