Special Olympics, Big Success! Thursday, May 07, 2009 By Mylon Dice 5th grade student Isaiah Cole shows off his gold medals he won at the Special Olympics Competition - Advertising It's almost the end of another great year here at CHS.  There's been some slow and fast moments, but there's still a lot going on. For Special Olympians the year is just heating up! The Northwest Acre Track and Field Special Olympics were held Saturday April 25th at Central High School in St. Joseph.  $0$0There were eleven R-1 students participating in these events. These students were:  Josh Watson, Trevor Clark, Kayla Spurgeon, Candy Jones, Isaiah Cole, Ben McAfee, Katie O'Donnell, Jordan McCormack, Destiny Miller, Nichole Bechtold, and Andrew Pokora.  The results were great! Together they won 22 first-place medals, 11 second-place medals, and 5 third-place medals.  With these results, most of the kids will participate in the State Track and Field Special Olympics held at Springfield May 28-30th.  $0$0Along with students going to participate, there were many adult and student volunteers who went along to help out.  The adult volunteers included: Kevin Nichols, Jim Coolman, Katie Neid, Linda Morris, Lisa Hartley, Marcia Smith, and Coach Pat Steele.  $0$0There weren't just adult volunteers though, students helped with this event as well.  The student volunteers included: Huston Jack, Bridgette Ingersol, Darren Adams, Zalak Patel, Cody Poole, Halee Tharp, Michael Cox, Kyla Cooper, Luci McDaniel, Courtney Harrell, and Tyler Lee.  $0$0The Special Olympians had the chance to participate in the 50 and 100 meter dash, the softball throw, standing and running long jump, tennis ball throw, and 4 by 100 meter relay.  Junior Speical Olympian Nichole Bechtold participated in the softball throw, the long jump, and the 50 meter dash.  Nichole ended up winning two gold medals and a silver medal while competing in these events.  All of the students practiced hard  everyday,  including Nichole, since March to prepare for this event for 45 minutes during school. $0$0She said the practicing paid off and her main goal was to keep practicing. "I ran and walked a lot and threw my softball up in the air really high," says Nichole.  Most athletes would be nervous about a competition like this, but Nichole said she was very excited to participate in these events, and also mentioned she thought it was very easy.  Nichole said she wanted to join the Special Olympics simply because she likes the Special Olympics.    $0$0Nichole wasn't the only one to receive gold medals though.  $0$0Sophomore student Candy Jones participated in the 100 meter dash, the softball throw, the 4 by 100 meter relay, and the long jump.  Out of all these events, she won three gold medals and one silver medal.  $0$0There's always different types of emotions in competition. Some people are excited, and some people are nervous. Candy was one of those nervous people, but she said she overcame this nervousness eventually.  Candy said there was a lot of competition there for her, and she also said they were all guys. "The competition was hard because of all of my [male] competitors, but I still had lots of fun," says Candy.  $0$0Candy thought of this event as an opportunity to achieve a lot she hadn't had the chance to achieve yet.  "I played regular sports in the past but it was too hard for me," says Candy.  Candy said her main goal was to have fun, and she achieved it tremendously.  $0$0All the kids seemed to have fun and so did Special Ed Teacher/Coach Mrs. Pat Steele.  "Congratulations to the Special Olympics athletes for an outstanding effort and the best of luck at the state meet next month!" a giddy Mrs. Steele exclaimed.  $0$0The State Competition is May 28-30 in Springfield, so if you get the chance come out the weekend of the competition and give the kids some support!

Back to the articles list