Ray Bedard and Dave Ducasse are doing their part to stay in the mix on the national stage.
The two local Special Olympians have completed the bulk of their preliminary track and field events at the national Summer Games in Prince Albert, Sask.
Bedard, competing at the nationals for the first time, had a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 50m dash (8.5 seconds) and 200m race (34.45) on Wednesday.
He also was third in the running long jump yesterday with a distance of 3.39 m.
He’ll compete in the heats of the shot put today.
Meanwhile, Ducasse, competing in his second nationals, was sixth in his 200m heat with a time of 37.13 seconds Wednesday and third in the 400m yesterday (1:18.4).
He also was fourth in both the running long jump (2.9 m) and men’s four-kg shot put.
Final races, jumps, and throws will be completed today and this weekend, when the Games wrap up.
Bedard and Ducasse, who qualified for these Games last summer, are joined by 273 other athletes on Team Ontario. The top finishers at Prince Albert will qualify for Team Canada for next year’s World Special Olympics in Ireland.
In related news, the story “Special Olympians deliver at Games” in Wednesday’s Times missed one local athlete who participated in Schreiber over the weekend.
Karleigh Morrison competed in her first games in the “adapt” division (physical disability) and cleaned up. She was first in the 25m dash, the ball throw, and the standing long jump.
The Times regrets any inconvenience this omission may have caused.