Special Olympics Illinois was represented by 51 athletes and Unified partners on four softball teams at the 2015 Special Olympics North America Softball Invitational Tournament in Wichita, Kansas.
Representing Illinois were:
- Chicago Park District – Daniel Bauer, Anthony Clark, Kevin Curet, Francis Duchon, Brittany Granger, Peter Hertal, Luis Iwamuro, Desiree Jackson, Lorenzo Miranda, Miguel Mosqueda, Matthew Petkus, William Rodriguez, David Scmitt, Alejandro Tello and Dulce Teresi; 1st place;
- NISRA Thunder (Crystal Lake) – Michael Aicher, Nicholas Das, Spencer Deacon, Alex Fortunato, Daniel Mayer, Rob Michalik, Jacob Pegues, Eric Schmidt, Michael Schneider, Michael Taft, Brian Weber and James Williams; 3rd place;
- Pathway Services Wolverines (Jacksonville) – Pedro Banda, Tim Beals, Brian Becker, Chad Bollinger, Nathan Bryant, Kevin Bush, Gary Crawley, Sammy Flagg, Rex Gill Jr., Wills Grosclaude, Travis Hamm, John Henderson, Vincent Lobby, Jesse Mattern, Gary Nelson, Tony Rouleau and Nick Wedeking; 1st place;
- Tri-County Unified (Peoria) – Chad Broomfield, Shane Covey, Darren Darr, Thomas Dault, Austin Gay, Bernard Harms, Stephen Knipmeyer, Steve Lawson, Steven Lawson, Robert Reese, Larry Woods and Christopher Worden; 3rd
More than 450 Special Olympics athletes, representing 32 teams from 14 U.S. and Canadian Special Olympics programs, attended the tournament Sept. 24-27, during Special Olympics’ annual “Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day” – a global day of celebration to mark the legacy, vision, and continuing work of Special Olympics’ founder.
The Tournament is made possible by presenting sponsor Moose International, as well as ASA/USA Softball, High Touch Technologies, Special Olympics Kansas and the Coca-Cola Company.
View photos from the tournament.