YMCA's Special Olympians Compete at District Level

Photo: Best friends Sara Davis (at left) of Downers Grove and Bella Didiana of Darien congratulate each other on the awards they received at the Special Olympics District Aquatics Meet in Naperville March 5. Story and photo by Kim Lovejoy-Voss.

Congratulations to all the Special Olympians who competed March 5 at the Illinois District Aquatics Competition in Naperville. Nearly 20 swimmers represented the Greater LaGrange YMCA at the meet bringing home numerous medals and awards.

Connor Nolan of Woodridge participated in the very first race of the day, the 100-meter freestyle, and earned the first gold medal of the day. Also winning gold that day were Michelle Owrey of Riverside in the 25M freestyle; Laura Lowe of Hillside in the 50M backstroke; Stacy Vaile of Brookfield for 25M freestyle and 50M backstroke; Abby Bryant of Willow Springs won gold in the 50M backstroke and 25M freestyle; Edward Mueller of Chicago earned gold in the 25M backstroke; Joe Ligeikis of Brookfield in the 25M butterfly and 200M freestyle; Jeanne DeCarlo of Brookfield in the 25M freestyle; Cynthia Ljubenko of La Grange Park for the 25M freestyle; and AnnaRita Solimene of Melrose Park won gold in the 25M backstroke. Team members receiving gold medals for taking first place in the 4x50M freestyle were AnnaRita Solimene, Cynthia Ljubenko, Sara Mikelenas of Downers Grove and Amy Cooper of La Grange Park.

Silver medals winners in the 50M freestyle were awarded to Tyler Florczak of Western Springs, Mark Ciesielski of La Grange Park, Laura Lowe of Hillside and Amy Cooper; Anna Rita Solimene in the 25M backstroke; Connor Nolan, 25M freestyle; and Cynthia Ljubenko in the 25M backstroke. Silver medals were presented to members of the 4x25M freestyle – Connor Nolan, Sara Davis of Downers Grove, Bella Didiana of Darien and Ally McKirchy of Countryside. In the 4x50M freestyle relay, silver medal winners were Jeanne DeCarlo, Laura Lowe, Abby Bryant of Willow Springs and Hope Murphy of Western Springs; while winning second place in the 4x100M freestyle relay were Edward Mueller, Mark Ciesielski, Stacy Vaile and Joe Liegeikis.

Winning bronze medals were Bella Didiana and Tyler Florczak in the 25M freestyle; Michelle Owrey and AnnaRita Solimene in the 50M freestyle; Amy Cooper in the 25M backstroke; Edward Mueller in the 100M backstroke; and Jeanne DeCarlo in the 200M freestyle.

Ribbons also were presented to Bella Didiana and Hope Murphy, both for 4th place in the 50M freestyle; Ally McKirchy took 4th in the 25M freestyle; and Sara Mikelenas earned 4th in the 25M backstroke race.

Winning 5th place ribbons were Mark Ciesielski in the 100M freestyle, and Sara Davis and Amy Cooper in the 50 freestyle. Hope Murphy took 6th in the 25M freestyle; and 7th place ribbons were awarded to Sara Davis and Sara Mikelenas, both in the 25M freestyle.

Adding to the excitement of the games was a picture of Eddie Mueller’s triumphant smile (from last year’s competition) that highlighted the cover of the competition’s brochure.

Congratulations to all the Special Olympians from Greater LaGrange YMCA, including their amazing coaches Sheri DeCarlo and Carolyn Gentry.

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