News Details (Posted: August 10, 2006):

The Medal Count Is In: Stark Public Special Olympics Brings Home 25!

Contact Information:

deb borland

Full Description:

Stark Public Special Olympics brought home 9 gold, 6 silver, and 10 bronze medals at the 2006 Ohio Special Olympics Summer Games held June 23-25 on the campus of The Ohio State University and Sawmill Lanes. Every athlete attending the State Games qualified for this event by competing in their respective Area Spring Games. All of the athletes were competitive in their divisions and had fun competing. The Summer Games kicked off with Opening Ceremonies at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Ceremonies included the Parade of Athletes and the finale of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics. This year twenty-two members of Stark Public Special Olympics participated in the 2006 Summer Games: TENNIS: Jason Betz (Canton) bronze in singles & doubles; Justin Bates (Dalton) 4th in singles & doubles; Megan Biedenbach (Massillon) bronze in singles; Katie Kestner (Massillon) 4th in singles, bronze in doubles; Anthony Zeigler (North Canton) bronze in singles, silver in doubles; Jean Berry (Partner) (Canton) silver in doubles; Jan Brunecz (P) (Canton) 4th in doubles. BOWLING: Nick Hein (Canal Fulton) gold; Eli Hershberger (Uniontown) bronze; Holly Hershberger (Uniontown) silver; Robert Hershberger (Canton) 4th; Chaz MacLean (Canton) gold; Branden Mayes (Canton) bronze; Ian Phillips (Louisville) bronze; Philip Tomei (Uniontown) silver; Dustin West (Alliance) 4th; Joe Zickefoose (Alliance) gold. TRACK: Rachelle Borland (North Canton) bronze in softball toss, 6th place 100M dash (with a time of 19.7 in the 100M dash, had her season best by .51 seconds and broke the 20 second barrier); Nicholas Doll (Canton) silver in softball toss, bronze in 100M dash (with a time of 21.2 in the 100M dash, had his season best by .84 seconds and broke the 22 second barrier); Katie Hedrick (Canal Fulton) 4th softball toss, 6th place in 100M dash (with distance of 9.48 meters achieved her season best by a margin of .06 meters, and on her last throw); Amanda Wallick (North Canton) silver, gold in softball toss (only .11meters shy of her season best). GYMNASTICS: Gymnast Amanda Brunk (Louisville) earned a blazing five gold medals in gymnastics at the Summer Games in Columbus. She was one of two athletes (Jason Betz, Tennis) from the Stark Public Special Olympics team who qualified and was chosen to participate in the USA National Games in Ames, Iowa on July 2-7, 2006. In total, nearly 2,600 athletes and 1,000 coaches participated in the 2006 Ohio Special Olympics Summer Games. Stark Public Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities, giving them opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage and experience joy as they participate in the sharing of gifts and friendship with their own families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community. Stark Public Special Olympics is a non-profit, independent, locally-funded, and volunteer-run organization dedicated to athletic training and fair competition for Stark County's Special Olympic school-aged athletes. We provide 7 sports programs for special needs athletes for ALL of Stark County's public education systems--at NO charge to any child: Basketball, Bowling, Gymnastics, Ice Skating, Powerlifting, Tennis, and Track & Field. Our athletes are a vital part of our community. Did you know that one out of every five families is touched in some way by a developmental or physical disability? These athletes are proud to belong to a team from their very own community. And we are grateful for the tremendous support this community has given to Stark Public Special Olympics. Find out more about us by visiting our website: www.starkpublicspecialolympics­.org www.starkpublicspecialolympics­.org. Contact: Deb Borland, Local Co-Coordinator, deb.borland@sbcglobal.net deb.borland@sbcglobal.net, (cell) 330-265-3007.