SEATTLE — Kauai Special Olympic athletes made their mark Tuesday during the first day of competition at the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games contested in Seattle, Wash.
Team Hawaii won its first medals of the Games. Kauai’s Kobe Iglesia won gold in the men’s 200-meter dash with a time of 31.68 seconds, and Katelin Heller won gold in the women’s 100-meter dash with a time of 18.30 seconds.
Divine Navalta, one of four Kauai Special Olympics athletes, finished Day 1 by taking first place in the 100-meter dash on a run of 15.30 seconds. The win advances her to the finals that will take place Friday.
Under the coaching of Tamarine Carvalho and Leona Sa-McDermott, Iglesia finished the 100 meter in fourth place with a 15.72-second run, and Archie Lanning ended the event in seventh with his run that stopped the clock at 19.88 seconds.
Lanning also placed sixth in shot put with a distance of 6.05 feet.
The Kauai athletes are part of Hui ‘O Hawaii that saw the Big Island contingent split its first day outing of two basketball. The Big Island basketball team from Honoka‘a dropped its opener to Nevada, 19-34, but rebounded to claim a victory over North Dakota, 28-21.
Soccer players from the Oahu Terminators’ team dropped both of its opening day matches, 1-6 to Washington Silver, and 0-6 to Washington Gold.
Two Special Olympics athletes — Britney Bautista and Sidney Tanaka — are participating in the Youth Leadership Experience.
The 2018 Special Olympics USA Games will continue through Friday, sharing the mission of Special Olympics by highlighting the abilities of athletes with intellectual disabilities while promoting acceptance and inclusion through sports.
Hui ‘O Hawaii, represented by 20 athletes and the two Maui Unified Champion School students, are part of more than 4,000 Special Olympics athletes and coaches from across the country competing in soccer, track and field, and basketball in Seattle, Washington.
The Hui ‘O Hawaii athletes were selected from 3,400 participants statewide.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
