Lonnie Wiborg, Shawn Olson, Jeremy Johnson and Jerad Magnuson, all of Austin, Minn., have each earned medals as part of Team Minnesota at the 2010 Special Olympics USA National Games in Lincoln, Neb., July 18–23.
Wiborg, 40, Olson, 35, and Johnson, 38, competed with Minnesota’s softball team to take second place in Division 2 competition. Minnesota advanced after victories against Florida and Kentucky but fell to Louisiana in the gold-medal game.
Magnuson, 22, earned two gold medals and a bronze medal in track and field events. He earned an individual gold in the 800-meter run, finishing first in Division 5 with a time of 2 minutes, 26.92 seconds. He also earned a team gold competing with Minnesota’s male 4×400 relay team. Magnuson won bronze in Division 15 of the long jump with a distance of 3.28 meters. He also ran 01:05.32 to place fourth in Division 11 of the 400.
The 2010 USA National Games was the largest sporting event held in the history of Nebraska, bringing together 2,666 athletes, 746 coaches and 6,300 volunteers. Athletes from 48 states won a total of 4,923 medals in 13 sports: aquatics, basketball, bocce, bowling, flag football, golf, gymnastics, powerlifting, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field and volleyball.
The 94 members of Team Minnesota earned 91 medals in 43 unique events at the 2010 National Games. The team included sixteen track and field athletes; eight aquatic athletes; a male and female full-court basketball team; eight bowlers; eight golfers; two gymnasts; eight bocce athletes; a softball team and a volleyball team. A complete list of Team Minnesota’s results, including team rosters, can be found at http://www.specialolympicsminnesota.org/National_Games_Athlete.php.