Special Olympics Track Meet

As part of Division III week, Hardin-Simmons’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee hosted its annual practice track meet for the Special Olympics of West Texas on a windy day at the HSU Track and Field Complex.

It was the largest meet in the nine-year history of the event with 184 Special Olympians competing in running events, the shot put, softball throw, the modified javelin and standing and broad jumps.

“We enjoy coming out to Hardin-Simmons every year,” said Special Olympics Area Director Luann Chastain. “It has been a great partnership between our West Texas Special Olympians and the HSU kids. Both receive a great deal of satisfaction on this day.”

Times are relative to the ability of the athletes whether it is a 13.30 in the 100-meter dash or a 28-second in the 10-meter walk both are great times for those individuals.

The Special Olympians are fine-tuning their skills for the local, area and state games that will be held throughout the spring. For the HSU student-athletes it is a humbling experience to see the time and effort the athletes put into their craft.

“We work hard at our sports and put in a lot of time and they are the same way,” said HSU basketball player Joe Hoeup. “To see the smiles on their faces when they have a good time or distance or whatever is priceless. Some of them just finishing the race is a win for them and that puts it into perspective. I had so much fun just interacting with all of them today. It’s a humbling experience.”

The event was run by the SAAC committee and HSU student-athletes did all of the organizing, scoring, measuring and maybe most important of all encouraging the Special Olympians to be as good as they can be.