Special Olympics Iowa held their first in-person meet in over a year at the Indianola Stadium Thursday afternoon, with athletes from all around south central Iowa competing. Special Olympics Iowa Senior Director of Sports and Programs Dawn Criss tells KNIA News it meant a lot to see the athletes out competing.

“It’s been a rough year. We’ve tried to hold a lot of virtual events over the last year, but it’s really been hard to reach people. We reay a lot on delegation managers and coaches to reach all of our athletes that don’t have technology and can’t use those things, it’s been tough. The event that we had in Indianola was absolutely fantastic, the athletes were so overjoyed and so happy to be out, and we were so happy to be back with them.”

Criss also said she especially appreciates the Indianola students who volunteered at the event, which means a lot to not only the parents and organizers of the event, but to the athletes as well.