Nearly 150 athletes compete in the Special Olympics Kentucky Area Meet at Great Crossing High School

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (ABC 36 News Now) — Nearly 150 athletes hit the track at Great Crossing High School in Georgetown this weekend for the Special Olympics Kentucky Area Meet.

Competitors from 13 different counties took part in the games. The meet kicks off the first of three weekends for the regional track and field season and is one of eight regional meets held statewide this year.

More than 1,000 athletes will participate in these area competitions. Organizers say it is a big day for athletes as they are all competing for a chance to advance to the State Summer Games.

“It is very, very important to our athletes because they’ve been practicing for this track meet. So yeah, they, they will be awarded at the end of the meet, uh, they’ll get either 1st through 6th place, so those medals are very, very important to them and some, some of our athletes are just here to have fun and they don’t care what ribbon they get. So it, it is a, it’s a great experience for our athletes,” an organizer said.

The Special Olympics Kentucky State Summer Games will be held June 5 through June 7 at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.