BUNSWICK COUNTY — Seventy North Carolinians participated in the Special Olympics last month — nine of whom were Brunswick County athletes who won a Bronze medal for basketball.
The Special Olympics USA Games — held every four years for athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities — took place in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, from June 20 to June 26; 75,000 fans and 10,000 volunteers were there to support the program and cheer on athletes.
Official medal counts were released on July 27, with the Brunswick County county basketball team taking the third place prize behind teams from Hawaii and Kansas.
Team members include Ashley Clarkson, Edan Current, Cole Denny, Brandon Lewis, Fonz McDonald, Mauquel Randall, Dion Smith, Andrew Stephenson and Kassandra (Kassie) Walter.
The Brunswick County team’s medal was among the 33 brought home by North Carolina athletes across nine sports — 15 gold, 6 silver and 12 bronze.
Athletes a part of Brunswick, Cabarrus, Cumberland, Davidson, Durham, Franklin, Gaston, Guilford/High Point, Iredell, Lake Norman, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Onslow, Rutherford, Stanly, Surry, Union, Wake and Wilkes counties Special Olympics programs represented the state.
Gov. Josh Stein presented each member of team SONC a Laurel Wreath award — an award presented to North Carolina athletes who have outstanding contributions to sports — during their sendoff dinner on June 18. Gov. Stein also declared June 20, team Special Olympics North Carolina Day across the state.
“It was an honor to present the Laurel Wreath – North Carolina’s highest honor to those who’ve made contributions to sports or athletics – to North Carolina’s Special Olympics athletes and coaches at their send-off,” Gov. Stein said in a social media post four days after the send-off.
The state has had a Special Olympics program since 1970 and now has 53,000 athletes and Unified partners —a program that works with Special Olympics to bring together athletes with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities.SONC is a year round program offering 20 athletic-type sports at a local and state level, including bowling, cheerleading and swimming.
The program also offers health and wellness initiatives to improve health status and access to community health resources for those with disabilities; these include free clinical screenings through their Healthy Athletes program and wellness education.
“Team SONC athletes competed against the nation’s best while demonstrating courage, perseverance, and sportsmanship,” North Carolina Special Olympics spokesperson Izzy Hendershot said in a statement.
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