CARTHAGE, Mo. — Tuesday morning, Special Olympics Missouri hosted a track and field day at Carthage High School.

Special Olympics Missouri and Carthage High School partnered together to make a track and field day happen for young people with and without disabilities to bond through sports. The event consisted of seven schools and three organizations. The schools included Carthage, Republic, Joplin, Webb City, Bolivar, Liberal and East Newton. As for the organizations, they included Springfield Agency, Preferred Family and Health Southwest.

The day was filled with running, jumping and throwing events for the athletes to participate in. They also received medals based on their performance. There were events for people who are wheelchair bound as well. This day for everyone involved was bigger than just sports.

Carlos Henley said, “It’s a lot of fun to do the events and plus you also get medals for them so let’s just say you do 100 meter and if you get first, then that means you get a gold medal, if you get last you might get a ribbon I think.”

Jennifer Lowe says, “It just warms your heart so much. They get to see some other kids they haven’t seen in a whole year and so to watch them be social and just light up, it’s amazing to see how much they just enjoy being with other people and doing these events.”

Haley Blevins mentioned, “So one of our big movements that we are trying to push right now is our inclusion revolution. Making sure that our athletes feel like they have something that is just as important as everybody else. People come out to cheer them on, as you can tell there’s a lot of fans out here today.