Parading proudly between lines of volunteers, 275 athletes offered smiles, waves, hugs and high fives as they entered Richard Nesti Stadium in Spring Valley for the Starved Rock Area Special Olympics 2011 Spring Games.The torch was passed across a row of special olympians before Bryanna Lehn of Princeton carried it up a ladder and lit the giant torch signaling the opening of the games.
Twenty-eight schools participated in the Spring Games, including Shepherd Middle School of Ottawa. Shepherd athlete Austyn Posada, 13, raced with his friends while they waited for their events.
“I think it’s great,” Posada said. “It’s great exercising, and more great and more sporting.”
Posada planned to participate in the shot put throw and standing long jump on Saturday. He also planned to earn a “golden medal” and proceed to the state games in Bloomington.
Those gold medals mean a lot to him, according to his father, Brian Kelley.
“He’s got them all hanging in his room from all the previous years,” he said.
This is Posada’s third year at the Special Olympics, said his mother, Wendy Kelley, and he goes to state every year. The athletes stay in the dorms at Illinois State University during the state competition, the Kelleys said, where they also take time to go swimming, visit the zoo and go to a water park.