Plains athletes prepare for regional games

A group of Plains athletes is heading to Kalispell Friday to show their stuff at the Montana Special Olympics Glacier Area Regional Games at Legends Field.

Twenty men and women from the Little Bitterroot Services will be participating in the day long track and field, golf and bowling competition. "They are really motivated," said Andy Ibarra, head coach for the Plains Little Bitterroot Wildhorses.

The team got a late start on training this year, but jumped right into the swing of things with a two-hour practice last week. Ibarra said they've also been doing some training on their own. Donald Lord, 33, has been jogging two times a week in preparation for his 100-meter run. Lord, who's been with the team about 10 years, said he'll also be competing in the softball throw and bowling. "It's a lot of fun. I've learned a lot of skills," said Lord. Ibarra said that for the last week they've been training about two hours a day.

Little Bitterroot Wildhorse Dannie DaGiau said she looks forward to the regional games every year. The 32-year-old DaGiau is the most senior athlete on the team, participating in the area games for the last 18 years. DaGiau plans to compete in the walking, softball throw and bowling events.

The Plains team ranges from 18 years old to 68, said Jason Cuddy, who had been head coach for several years, but turned the reins over to Ibarra this year. Cuddy said the Little Bitterroot team has been competing at the Glacier Area Regional Games every year since 2010. They've also taken part in the Montana state finals four or five times when the games are scheduled close to Plains. He said the finals are slated for May in Great Falls this year, but the team won't be participating.

This is only the second year for Wildhorse Kaleb Young, 25, but he shows a lot of promise, said Ibarra. Last year, he reached 193 feet in the softball throw, nearly breaking the area games record. "I really want to get over 200 feet this year," said Young, who also plans to compete in bowling and the turbo javelin throw. Like traditional track and field competition, each athlete gets three tries on the throwing events. Ibarra said Young is averaging around 140 feet, so far, in training.

Terri Siefke, coordinator for the area games, said they'll probably have around 275 athletes of 14 different teams from a dozen communities in the state, including Plains and Thompson Falls. The Plains team will be competing in walking and running events, as well as softball and turbo javelin throwing, and bowling and golf. Ben Armstrong will be the team's only golfer this year. Armstrong has been with the Plains team for five years and he'll also be participating in bowling. He said he'd like to try the javelin throw next year.

"They're looking good and working hard," said Ibarra. "When you let them know they're doing good, they automatically try harder," he said. "They really want to make the staff proud."