P.E.I. Special Olympians shine at Nova Scotia Provincial Games

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P.E.I. Special Olympians shine at Nova Scotia Provincial Games

	Kolton Doucette of Summerside competes in powerlifting at the Nova Scotia 2009 Provincial Summer Games. Submitted Photo

The Journal Pioneer

HALIFAX — Special Olympics P.E.I. took a team of 38 athletes and 12 coaches to the Nova Scotia 2009 Provincial Games here recently.
This provincial competition was a qualifying event for next year’s 2010 National Summer Games. Team P.E.I. had an exceptional weekend, with quality competition being at the forefront. Team P.E.I.’s athletes and coaches exemplified true sportsmanship, dedication and passion for sport and as a result, Team P.E.I. came home with an abundance of gold, silver and bronze medals.
Special Olympics P.E.I. participated in softball, powerlifting, aquatics and athletics. Here are the highlights from each sport:

Softball
The P.E.I. Stars played two games against the Lunenburg Nicks and were undefeated in their quest to bring home a gold medal.
Glendon Arsenault pitched for P.E.I. in the first game, which featured some hard hitting and fast running. The highlight of P.E.I.’s 10-0 win was a triple-play by P.E.I.’s Blair Burns.
Arsenault and Shawn Mitchell pitched in the second game, a 9-6 P.E.I. win.

Powerlifting
For the first time in Special Olympics P.E.I. history, SOPEI competed in powerlifting at the Provincial Summer Games.
Kolton Doucette and Jarred MacNeil are no strangers to the world of powerlifting, but it was their first time competing at a Special Olympics event. The newcomers to SOPEI proved their experience and expertise to the sport, each bringing home a gold medal. Some highlights of their first-ever Special Olympics competition were:
— Official CPU officials on hand doing a fantastic job.
— Doucette getting to wear official Inzer powerlifting gear.
— MacNeil’s 308-pound deadlift and Kolton’s 200-pound deadlift.

Athletics
Team P.E.I. athletics featured 12 athletes from Charlottetown, Summerside and Souris. Every athletics athlete was proudly wearing a medal around their neck as they loaded the bus for home. Some athletes even medalled in several events.
Lorne Blackett won a gold or silver in all four events he competed in. Other highlights included P.E.I. athletes winning 11 gold medals, eight silver and two bronze.

Swimming
P.E.I. Special Olympics aquatics team of eight swimmers had amazing results. In front of many P.E.I. fans and family members, they captured 25 medals in the 38-event swim competition.
Many personal bests were achieved, along with topping off the competition by winning gold in two relay events.
Highlights included Charlottetown athlete Melissa MacDonald winning gold in the 25-metre freestyle; Charlottetown swimmer Amber Metcalfe earning a medal in every event she competed in, and swimming coaches Debbie Metcalfe, Melissa MacKay and Alysia Angus-Lund losing their voices from all the screaming and cheering during the day-long competition. It was MacDonald’s first medal in an aquatics event.