Athletes Garner Special Olympics Medals

GMSO ATHLETES BRING HOME MEDALS FROM THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS CT STATE SUMMER GAMES HELD AT SCSU IN NEW HAVEN JUNE 6-8, 2012

Twenty-Two Greater Middletown Special Olympics Athletes competed at the 2012 Special Olympics Connecticut State Summer Games this past weekend of June 6-8.  The GMSO Athletes competed in Track & Field & Cycling events.  The Head Track & Field Coach is Heather Ann Lodini & the Head Cycling Coach is Jim Swol both from Cromwell. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal stopped by the Special Olympics CT State Summer Games at SCSU while there he congratulated GMSO Athletes David Crovo of Middlefield & Scott Thayer of Middletown after they received their 1st & 3rd Place awards in the Mini Javelin event.  Plus, Middletown City Councilman Phillip Pessina was there too representing the SCSU's police department. He presented GMSO Athlete Anna Kozinski of Middletown with a 2nd Place Silver Medal for the 50 M Dash on Saturday, June 9th at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. Second year athlete Indiana McCormick of Middlefield competed in track & field events.  What was her favorite event at this year's games?  McCormick's favorite events are the track events. "I like running on the track" commented McCormick while she was waiting to compete in the Shot Put event.

The following are incomplete results for the Greater Middletown Special Olympics Athletes:

Indiana McCormick of Middlefield: Shot Put-1st Place;400 M Run-1st Place; 200 M Run-4th Place. 4x100 M Relay with teammatesMelissa Carta of Cromwell,James Brown & Tim Mohr both from Middletown-3rd Place

David Crovo of Middlefield:  Mini Javelin-1st Place; Shot Put-2nd Place. Chris Naples of Durham-200 M Walk-3rd Place

Richard Steele of Durham:100 M Walk-2nd Place;Softball Throw-3rd Place;200 M Walk-5th Place.

Cromwell: Melissa Carta of Cromwell:200 M Run-2nd Place; Shot Put-3rd Place;4x100 M Relay-3rd Place.Kevin Henneberry: 100 M Walk-1st Place; Ralph Lill-100 M Walk-1st Place; Softball Throw-2nd Place;50 M Walk-3rd Place. Scott Knee: 400 M Walk-1st Place; 800 M Walk-1st Place; Softball Throw-2nd Place.

Middletown-Ed Hill: 50 M Run-2nd Place. Tiffany Jones: Shot Put-3rd Place. Scott Maloney: Softball Throw-2nd Place; 50 M Run-4th Place;100 M Run-5th Place.  Anna Kozinski: 50 Meter Dash-2nd Place. Katherine Thayer:  100 M Walk-4th Place.  Scott Thayer: 1500 M Walk-1st Place; Shot Put-2nd Place; Mini Javelin-3rd Place.  James Brown: 4x400 Meter Unified Relay with Special Partners Kim Mohs, Joe DiMuccio & Matt Conboy-4th Place.  Unified Sports is when athletes with & without disabilities compete on the same team to help break down barriers between people with & without disabilities.

To view more images of the extraordinary athletes from the Greater Special Olympics from this year's Special Olympics CT State Summer games please go to http://franklphotographyblog.blogspot.com and scroll all the way down to see the latest photos from the 2012 SOCT State Summer Games.

The Greater Middletown Special Olympics serves athletes with intellectual disabilities ages 8 & above in a variety of well-coached Olympic type sports who reside in Cromwell, Durham, East Haddam, East Hampton, Haddam, Middlefield, Middletown and Portland. Since 1969, Special Olympics Connecticut has provided year-round sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. According to the Special Olympics Connecticut website, “The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community. For more information, please call SOCT at 1-800-443-6105 or visit www.soct.org.