Special Olympians bring back gold

SVN SPORTS STAFF Sauk Valley athletes took home 24 gold medals from this weekend's Illinois Special Olympics summer games in Normal. Frances House of Sterling won eight gold medals. Laurelle Fetzer won a 200 run and the tennis ball throw, Tamara Bass won a 100 walk and the softball throw, Megan Felker won a 30 and 50 motorized wheelchair slalom, and Mary Anglese and Mary Rivera won softball throwing contests.

Ogle County's team won six gold medals, led by the 400 relay team of Daniel Joey Neubert, Jason Roinas, Kenneth Spurbeck and Jacob Willoughby. Jamie Lazenby of Rochelle won a 100 run, and four teammates won softball throwing contests: Ashley Considine of Oregon, Jennifer Hobbs of Rochelle, Jennifer Meyers of Forreston and Kyle Watter of German Valley.

Amy Irwin of Kreider Services in Dixon won the 100-meter swimming individual medley. Her teammates David Thurston of Dixon and Patrick Wilburn of Ashton each won softball throwing contests.

Mary Batt of Dixon and Lee County Special Ed's team won a softball throw. Lanark's Debbie Merboth of Rolling Hills won a 50 run. David Blackburn of Milledgeville's Southtown Terrace won a softball throw. Jason Gardner of Sterling's Bi-County Special Ed won a softball throw.

Robert Brown of Oregon's Village of Progress won a 100 walk, and his teammate Sylvia Ann King won a 50 run. Rochelle's Rachel White won a softball throw for the team.

For a complete listing of all the Sauk Valley's participants, see the scoreboard at left.

P-Town's Ford signs with Illinois College: Brock Ford of Prophetstown will attend Illinois College in Jacksonville and play football for the Division III Blueboys.

Ford played on the offensive and defensive lines for Erie-Prophetstown, and he also wrestled in the heavyweight division. The son of Chris and Ann Ford will major in civil engineering.

Gosch, King earn academic honors: Dixon's Kasey Gosch and Sterling's Michelle King earned academic all-conference honors for the spring semester at Millikin University in Decatur.

The track and field juniors qualified for the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin honor by earning a letter and carrying at least a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average. Gosch majors in human services, and King majors in fitness and sport.