Wood County Special Olympics athletes, coaches, and volunteers are headed to Columbus on Friday, June 28th to compete in the 2024 State Summer Games at The Ohio State University. Wood County Special Olympics, better known as Wood County Wildcats, will have 21 total athletes attending State Games competing in track and field, bocce, and power lifting.

On Friday, June 28^th, Wood County Special Olympics will have a sendoff celebration, starting at 8AM, with music, confetti and more at Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities Campus, located at 1921 E. Gypsy Lane Road. Wood County Law Enforcement, Wood County Fire Department. and State Highway Patrol are coming to WCBDD campus to help celebrate and send our crew off safely to Columbus. We invite our community to join us in celebration!

Wood County Special Olympics has 15 Track and Field athletes competing in Summer State Games:

1.      Tyler Hitt

2.      Abigail Simmons

3.      Stephen Scholl

4.      Christopher Schuckers

5.      Kim Fechter

6.      Harrison Bohland

7.      Stephanie Kline

8.      Laura Reimer

9.      Sawyer Rader

10.  Trevor Sachs

11.  Gavin Coonrod

12.  Melissa Frizado

13.  Sean Brown

14.  Lucas Reffert

15.  Anne Schooley

Wood County Special Olympics has 5 Bocce athletes competing in State Summer Games:

1.      Barb Markin

2.      Brooke Coan

3.      Chris Doerner

4.      Dennis Miller

5.      JoLynn Snyder

AJ Bach will be competing in Power Lifting.

LeAnn Frankfather, Wood County Special Olympics coach stated, “The athletes have invested in themselves with countless hours of training. It’s exciting to see it all come together at the State Event. I couldn’t be prouder of what they have accomplished and will continue to accomplish.”

Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities has operated the Special Olympics program since its creation in 1970 for youth and adults served in Wood County. Today, there are more than 450 active participants in Special Olympics sports throughout Wood County.

Wood County Special Olympics offers 9 different sport opportunities ranging from basketball, volleyball, softball, swimming, and more. You are eligible to participate if you are age 8 and older. To learn more about Special Olympics, please visit our website at https://www.woodcountydd.org/special-olympics.