The Southern California Special Olympics athletes who competed in the World Games in Idaho have just returned, and the Team USA athletes from our region brought 13 medals back with them—James McGoff and David Saunders, in particular, are from Long Beach and snagged a bronze in cross country skiing, and a silver and two bronzes in snowboarding. 

Below are the results of all the SoCal athletes…

Manasa Iyer – 2^nd place (silver); 3^rd place (bronze); and 6^th place – Snowshoeing

Brittany Kulic – Two 4^th place and one 5^th place – Alpine Skiing

James McGoff – 3^rd place (bronze) and 4^th place – Cross Country Skiing

Samuel Mesa – Three 4^th place finishes – Snowboarding

David Saunders – 2^nd place (silver) and two 3^rd place (bronze) – Snowboarding

Lesley Stone – 2^nd place (silver) and 3^rd place (bronze) – Cross Country Skiing

Patti Trujillo – 1^st place (gold) and 4^th place – Snowboarding

Marisa Watkins – 1^st place (gold); 2^nd place (silver), and 7^th place – Snowboarding

Max Young – Two 2^nd place (silver) and 4^th place – Alpine Skiing

For a first-hand blog about the Closing Ceremony, and a story about an inspirational Russian athlete (who finished his skating event even though he’d just had his Achilles tendon cut), check out this entry from SoCal’s Dustin Plunkett: http://community.specialolympics.org/_Closing-Ceremonies-and-an-Amazing-Story/blog/185741/82244.html.

Congrats again to all the athletes and good luck at the US National Games next year, and the World Summer Games in 2011 in Greece!