Congratulations to Jr. Olympic winners
The words “if only I had that kind of energy” are often heard when adults watch children at play. Earlier this month, members of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Pine Island, along with Lee County Parks and Recreation, provided an outlet for some of the bottled up energy found in Pine Island children. Each year, the Kiwanis and the county sponsor the Junior Olympics for island elementary school children.
“This year’s event is one of the best attended we have seen in several years. The kids were all very competitive, but at the same time, everyone had fun,” organizer and Kiwanian, Mike Shevlin, said. “The best part is now that we have been doing this for 29 years, we are now seeing not only some of the kids who participated as children years ago here with their children, but we even seeing grandparents who had come as the parents of these same kids.”
According to Shevlin, between 80 and 100 children participated this year.
The 29th annual Pine Island Junior Olympics was held at Phillips Park on Dec. 4, when students from kindergarten through fifth grade competed in a number of events including in a quarter mile run, softball throw, 50 yard dash, long jump and Frisbee toss. Each child competed in his or her category with others of their own grade and gender and for competing in the free event, each child received an official T-shirt, hot dog and soda. Trophies were awarded to the top three overall winners in each age group and gender. When the races were done the winners of the event were announced. This year’s overall winners are as follows:
Fifth-grade boys
1st place: Dawson Proulx
2nd place: Ricardo Guadaramo
3rd place: Josh Sutton
Fifth-grade girls
1st place: Erin Post
2nd place: Amber Northrup
3rd place: Janette Vriostegui
Fourth-grade boys
1st place: Eli Fost
2nd place: Jonathan Bush
3rd place: David Hien
Fourth-grade girls
1st place: Hannah Hollow
2nd place: Shara Ellis
3rd place: Logan Henderson
Third-grade boys
1st place: Paxton Howard
2nd place: Benjamin Rich
3rd place: Nathan Hyde
Third-grade girls
1st place: Kelby Kolz
2nd place: Morgan Williams
3rd place: Isaabella Vitello
Second-grade boys
1st place: Jayden Pfister
2nd place: Alec Foubister
3rd place: Ty VanBulck
Second-grade girls
1st place: Ana Cardona
2nd place: Jaylin Cammilleri
3rd place: Lilly Overbaugh
First-grade boys
1st place: Baron Pierson
2nd place: Darren Pfister
3rd place: no winner
First-grade girls
1st place: Heidi Hanson
2nd place: Ellen Hiatt
3rd place: Abigail Williams
Kindergarten boys
1st place: Connor Darr
2nd place: Luke Gaffney
3rd place: Evan Alvarez
Kindergarten girls
1st place: Jossly Rider
2nd place: Grayce Smith
3rd place: no winner
In keeping with the Kiwanis Club International’s vow to support the community, especially children, the Pine Island organization not only provides the opportunity for youngster to compete in the Junior Olympics each December, it also provides numerous educational scholarships to college bound island high school students, provides the annual Fall Festival and Halloween Party for island children and provides funds for numerous other island charitable organizations through various fund-raising activities including the upcoming Taste of Pine Island and Fish Drop. With the proceeds from this and other events, the island Kiwanis Club has provided more than $200,000 in scholarships. Also to raise funds, the Kiwanians offer limited edition Tervis Tumblers with artwork rendered by local artists for sale.
The Kiwanis Club of Greater Pine Island is a community service organization of volunteers who meet every Friday morning at Bert’s Bar and Grill in Matlacha. For more information about the Pine Island Kiwanis, call the club’s president, Carlyn Herring, at 283-5610.