JTHS Special Olympic Basketball Wins 2019 State Championship
The JTHS Special Olympics Basketball Gold Team won the Illinois Special Olympics Division 6 State Championship on Saturday, March 16th. This is the second year in a row that the JTHS Special Olympics team has won this championship.
On Friday, March 15th, the Joliet Township Special Olympics gold Basketball Team started the tournament with a win over Crystal Lake Central Black 45–13 at Illinois State University. With this win, the Gold Team moved onto the Championship round against the Hersey Huskies Orange Team at Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday, March 16th.
This game was close throughout the first 3 quarters with no team leading more than 4 points at a time. By the end of the 4th quarter, the Joliet Township Gold Team came away with the victory of 55-32 to win the Illinois Special Olympics Division 6 State Championship. All the players worked hard throughout the year and worked together in the end to win a hard-fought game.
JTHS 204 sponsors two basketball teams: Gold and Blue. The winning Gold team roster consists of students Adam Arias, Demetrius Bailey, Christian Cisneros, Caroline Collins, Tim Formhals, Lena Lavazza, Sarah Lopez, Francisco Manoz, Jessie McMorris, Christopher Munoz, Hanah Drexel, Rafael Teodoro, Kollen Turner, and Amaya Young. They are coached by Kamron Majerus, Anna Bushong, and Caroline Krotiak. Although Team Blue did not make it to the state competition, they also played hard all season and had a great time.
AVAC/Transition Coordinator Lynda Shanks said, “The Joliet Township Gold Team worked very hard all year and it showed during the championship game. Hersey Huskies Orange played a great game and kept it close, but in the end, JT pulled away to win our second straight Illinois Special Olympics State Championship. We would like to thank the parents, students and staff of Joliet Township for cheering us on, our generous donor for our awesome new uniforms and Nowell Park for allowing us to practice at their awesome facility.”
