Sunday, April 14th, YWCA of Pekin had three athletes compete in the Special Olympics Regional Competition for Swimming hosted in Champaign, Illinois. This was the second year YWCA of Pekin’s team the “Sirens” was represented at the Regional Competition. Three athletes competed in the meet. Coaches Kyla Fountain and Kylie Schimmelfenning accompanied the athletes alongside the athletes’ families.

Micah Winders, 12, competed in the 25 Freestyle and 25 Backstroke. He placed 2nd in the 25 Freestyle and 1st in his 25 Backstroke. Micah was able to surpass his qualifying times for both races. Micah originally timed at 1:27:36 for his 25 Freestyle and his regional time was 49:72 seconds. His qualifying time for his 25 Backstroke was 2:10:28 and his regional time was 1:00:55 seconds! He cut both times nearly in half. His accomplishments are impressive, especially when finding out this is his first time competing.

Bo Gill, 17, competed in the 50 Freestyle and 50 Butterfly. He placed 1st in the 50 Freestyle and 1st in the 50 Butterfly. This is Bo’s second year on the YWCA of Pekin team but he has competed for several years. This year Bo worked harder than he ever has, beating his State times from last year and setting new personal records. Bo’s 2023 State time for the 50 Butterfly was 1:23:53, his 2024 Regional time was 48:26 seconds. Bo’s 2023 State time for the 50 Free was 53:84 seconds, his 2024 Regional time was 40:91 seconds.

Janae Sutton, 25, competed in the 25 Freestyle and the 25 Backstroke. This is her first year on the YWCA of Pekin team, but she has competed in the Special Olympics before. She placed 1st in the 25 Freestyle and 1st in the 25 Backstroke. Janae’s original time for the 25 Freestyle was 1:17:13, her Regional race time was 29:16. Her original time for her 25 Backstroke was 1:30:12, her Regional race time was 33:84.

YWCA of Pekin was able to grab 5 gold and 1 silver medal all together. Each athlete will move on and compete again in Bloomington in June for the State Competition. The state competition will be held in Bloomington on June 7th-9th.

If you would like to support the Sirens, donations can be made to YWCA of Pekin or purchase Siren merch at ywcapekin.org. All designated donations and sales made from Siren merch will be donated back to the Special Olympics team. These donations help provide athletes with team swimsuits and shirts, as well as cover any fees associated with the Special Olympics team.

If you would like to sponsor an athlete, please reach out to Kyla Fountain, Aquatic and Fitness Director or Manda Brown, Executive Director at 309-347-2104.