Evanston Special Olympic athletes recently took part in the state games in Laramie, utilizing facilities at Laramie High School and the University of Wyoming.

“We had about 33 kids who took part and they all had an absolute blast,” coach Ryan Berger told the Herald. Berger coaches the swimmers, while Kody Freeland mentors the track and field athletes and Dave Deru coaches the basketball team.

“But we all coach together.” Berger said.

In basketball, both a skills competition and a three-on-three tournament are elements of the games, which took place at the newly-renovated Arena Auditorium on the University of Wyoming campus. Of the three Evanston-based teams, one team placed second and two teams placed third in different divisions.

Joseph Beachell led the Evanston charge in swimming, collecting four gold medals and his relay team also placed first, according to Berger.

Austin Cook won the 25-meter race at the very end, in a neck-and-neck race.

“He’s just a super kid and he won it right at the very end in one of the best races I’ve seen all year,” Berger said. “Austin was really excited.”

“Dayton Cates did really well in track and field events,” Berger added. “And Breyer Faddis had a great performance in the standing long-jump.”

While winning many events and “bringing home a lot of hardware,” in the form of trophies was great, Berger stated that the fun factor, along with improvement, was the biggest take-away from the state competition.

“All our kids did really well, and it was so gratifying to see their improvement and all the smiles.”

And there’s more to come for a few of Evanston’s Special Olympic athletes in the form of the national games, which will take place in Seattle. 

“They will leave on June 30 for Seattle, and what a wonderful opportunity it will be for those kids,” Berger said.

Byrlie Thomas will represent Evanston in bowling at the national games, while Tanner Spatig and Cayden Frye will be members of the unified five-on-five basketball team, which Deru will also coach.

“Evanston Special Olympics is back and is moving along in very strong fashion,” Berger said. “With our unified athletes and our Special Olympic athletes, Evanston boasts one of the strongest teams in the state.”

Evanston participants in last week’s events were:

Athletes

Katana Albert

Joseph Beachell

Flint Broadhead

Dayton Cates

Benny Chamberlain

Davin Dean

Breyer Faddis

Kenyon Lavato

Parker Merritt

Christina Sorensen

Tanner Spatig

Tayson Spatig

Elena Stephen

Byrlie Thomas

Joey Young

Lakota Whinery

Austin Cook

Unified Partners

Remington Cates

Jayda Ellis

Hannah Fackrell

Hagen Faddis

Caden Fry

Emma Jones

Jarod Stahl

Colter Camphouse

Quinnae Brooks

Destiny Rasmussen

Tharyn Barker

Kiernynn Simmons