Members of the Yellow Jackets Special Olympics (YJSO) program out of Middleton fared very well during the recent Special Olympics Massachusetts Summer Games, which were held at Harvard University in Cambridge.
Eleven gymnasts trained from September to November and again from March to June for the chance to compete, with eight YJSO gymnasts qualifying for the Games — including four from the North Shore.
Gabby Frasca, 8, of Beverly did extremely well in her first year training and competing in the Summer Games. Competing at Level 1 in the 8-9-year-old division, Gabby finished in first place in the all-around with a score of 33.45. She also won the vault with a score of 8.60 and the balance beam with a 9.25 while finishing second on the floor exercises (8.60) and taking third on the uneven bars (7.00).
Also at Level 1, Hamilton residents Julia Morin and Sophie McGarrah both placed in the top three in the 10-year-old age group.
Julia, a three-year participant in the Summer Games, finished second in the all-around competition with a score of 25.60. She had the top score on balance beam (5.50) while placing second in vault (6.25), uneven bars (5.70) and the floor exercises (8.15).
Sophie, competing in her second Summer Games, finished third in the all-around with a score of 25.25. She placed first in both the uneven bars (5.90) and floor exercises (8.35) while finishing third on the vault (6.00) and the balance beam (5.00).
Kayla Snover, 13, of Lynnfield placed second in the all-around (27.00) of the Level 1 12-13-year-old division. She had second place finishes in the vault (6.75), uneven bars (6.30) and balance beam (5.70) while finishing third on the floor exercises (8.25).
The Yellow Jackets Special Olympics program, a certified local program, was started in 2007. The classes is for females ages 5-to-18 with intellectual disabilities. Yellow Jackets donates the gym space while the program is run by volunteer coaches and is completely funded by donations. The program is also free to athletes.
