Locals haul medals from Special Olympics

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

Strathmore is now home to some of the best athletes in the country.
Scott Pagenkopf, Emma Bittorf and Justin Thompson all returned Aug. 5 from the Special Olympics Canada Summer Games with a trunk full of hardware.
Each won medals in their respected sport. Pagenkopf crushed the competition in the men’s 120-kilogram (kg) plus weight class in powerlifting.
Despite being relatively new to the sport, Pagenkopf won gold with a 185kg squat, silver with a deadlift of 217.5kg and silver with a 125kg bench press. He also won gold in the combination of the three, lifting a total of 527.5 kg and accomplished his goal of wanting to come home with a lot of gold medals.
“It was pretty fun out there. It was also really hot and humid, but I tried not to let that affect me. I thought it was an awesome performance,” said Pagenkopf, 25.
The games ran from July 31 to Aug. 4 in Antigonish, N.S. Pagenkopf arrived in Nova Scotia along with his Team Alberta teammates a few days before competing. He was involved in one of the first events and it wrapped up in one day, so he was able to enjoy the rest of his time out east.
“I’ve never been out there so it was cool to see it. We also watched every other sport and there was some great games,” said Pagenkopf.
Justin Thompson, 19, was involved in races all week; he cleaned up in the pool, as he came home with six medals.
Thompson won gold in the 25-metre (m) backstroke and the 50m breaststroke. In his fastest race of 13.86 seconds, Thompson also took home gold in the 25m freestyle. He also won silver in the 50m breaststroke and 50m backstroke. The only race he pulled bronze in was the 50m freestyle, in which he touched the end wall in 31.65 seconds.
The final local competitor taking a shot at a national title was the youngest player with Team Alberta, Bittorf, who is 15 years of age.
Bittorf started the three-day tourney by carding her weekend-low round of 57. Having a sense of the moment, the nerves got to her a little bit in the following two rounds.
Like most golfers, Bittorf ran into one hole per round that gave her trouble, as she shot a 60 on the second day of competition.
“I just tried to shake off the bad holes. I wanted to worry about the rest of the golf I had left and to forget about the bad stuff,” said Bittorf.
Battling Nova Scotia’s Krista Stockman down the stretch on the third day, Bittorf’s long and straight drives set her up well for easy finishes around the hole, as she edged out the hometown Stockman by three strokes to claim bronze.
“I was pretty excited to finish third. I thought it was a fantastic tournament,” said Bittorf.
With the shiny hardware hanging from the walls and the insides of frames, the athletes now play a waiting game with Special Olympics Canada. The organization is taking in all the results from this past week of competition and will determine which athletes earned the trip to the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games from Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates.
The selected names are rumoured to be released no later than next week, as the games are fast approaching. The athletes will need time to regroup and begin training, as the 2019 games are set for March 14 to 21.
“I really want to be chosen for the World Games. I think it would be fun to go there,” said Pagenkopf.