Northern Area Special Olympics take over Middle School field

The Great Northern Area Special Olympic Games began in 1989 and the tradition continued Thursday as more than 110 area athletes competed in events like running, throwing and, for the first time, cycling.

Keeley Wilson of Havre was the lone cyclist this first year of the event.

"I think I did pretty well," she said.

Wilson, 18, said she has been participating in the Special Olympics for 10 years and likes running best.

Athletes from Malta, Turner, Turner, Chinook, Harlem, Big Sandy, Chester and Havre were enjoying an event barbecue Wednesday with friends and family as others were mingling and taking part in events on the Havre Middle School field.

Darian Mitchell of Chinook, 21, was between bites of her hamburger when she joked that her favorite event was the wheelchair race.

Mitchell said she took part in the running, jumping, softball throw and 100-meter dash. She likes the 100-meter best, she said, because anything goes.

"You can do what you want," Mitchell said.

Mitchell lives on a ranch in Chinook with her parents where, her mother, Tami Mitchell, said, she likes "firing her uncle."

When she's not causing trouble, Dennis Mitchell said, she prepares lunch and rides the four-wheeler around.

Thirteen-year-old Savannah Stewart of Havre said she was glad to be out of class and taking part in the event. Meeting new people and missing school, she said, are her favorite parts of the event. Although she competed in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, running, jumping and softball throw, she said she is probably best at running. Her favorite athlete, Savannah said, is "all of us."

"We're pretty good at what we do," she said.

Married couple Dave and Ann-Marie Carlson have served as area event directors for the last two years and this will be their last year doing so.

Ann-Marie is retiring from her job as a math teacher, joining her husband in the retired community, and she said there are a few other things on her plate she'd like to focus on.

Program Coordinator Mandy Hansen, who teaches at Highland Park Early Primary School, has nine years as the media spokesperson for the event and said she has no plans to go anywhere.

The time at the area Special Olympics, she said, goes by fast and she loves seeing so many people she hadn't seen in awhile.

"It's happiness," she said. "You get a taste of what real life is about - it's real, it's happiness."