Competition heats up at Gateway Games in St. Peters
 |
| Roy Sykes photo Brian Cressler, 35, of St. Peters draws back an arrow to symbolically launch the Gateway Games with the help of his father, Don. |
The games qualified some of the disabled athletes for the National Junior Disability Championship.
"This is the opportunity to show St. Louis the athletes they truly are," said Kelly Behlmann, founder of DASA.Opening ceremonies were Friday at the Fort Zumwalt South High School track.
Rachel Voss, 17, of Collinsville, Ill., sang the national anthem and Brian Cressler, 35, of St. Peters shot an arrow into a target that exploded into a shower of rainbow-colored confetti to anoint the start of the games.
The three-day event, which was the first-ever regional event of its kind, took place at Fort Zumwalt South High School and the St. Peters Rec-Plex.
The swimming, archery and track and field events included athletes from six states.
Ameristar Casino Resort Spa employees donated $110,000 through the Ameristar Cares program to support DASA and the Gateway Games.
Voss, whose rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" moved many in her audience to tears, holds the national junior and adult disabled athlete record in the discus and was a 2007 member of the USA Junior International team that competed in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Voss was paralyzed from the waist down when a vein growing abnormally around her spine burst five years ago.
Voss's ambitions go beyond sports and music; she is interested in a career as a psychologist.
According to DASA Development Director Ashley Weiss, Voss qualified for nationals in the 100-meter and 400-meter wheelchair races with times of 22.96 seconds and 1 minute, 20.75 seconds, respectively.
Weiss said the national record for her class is 16.34 and 56.26, respectively.
Cressler started with DASA and archery last year.
Cressler was paralyzed in a car crash when he was 18 and retains movement in only one arm.
Cressler's dad, Don, sets up the bow and Cressler uses his mouth to draw the string back.
"I try to do well," Cressler said, "try to."
Cresler seems to shrug with his eyebrows for emphasis. Weiss said Cressler recorded a score of 129 points out of a possible 360.
"Fantastic for someone who has only been shooting a little over a year and never shot at this range in these conditions," Weiss wrote in an e-mail.
David Grassi of Ballwin, Kelsie Kellen, 13, of O'Fallon and George Anglin, 15, of Troy will represent the 2008 USA Junior International team in August in track and field and swimming. Grassi's time at the Gateway Games in the 100-meter at 18.08, the 400-meter at 1:4.4 and the 1,500-meter at 4:21.63 qualified him for nationals.
"I'm doing shot put, discus and javelin," Anglin said.
"He's dangerous with that," Kellen teased.
Anglin and Kellen have good-natured rivalry.
Kellen has won multiple medals and the American Girl Real Girl of the Year award.
Anglin, who replaced the transmission on his red truck in his spare time, would like to go to the University of Missouri-Columbia on a wheelchair basketball scholarship.
Kellen qualified for nationals in all of her track events: the 100-meter with 22 seconds, 400-meter with 1:17.28, and 1,500-meter with 5:47.41, Weiss said.
So did Anglin - in the 100-meter with 19.14, the 400-meter with 1:16.9 and the 1,500-meter with 4:53.90.
Tyler Pickett, 16, of St. Paul has been working with DASA for 14 years.
Like Kellen and Anglin, he has spina bifida, a condition in which a portion of the spine forms outside the body.
Pickett is interested in a career as a fitness trainer, and trains with his cousin, a runner, on weekends.
Pickett qualified for nationals in the 400-meter with 1:24.7 in track and field, Weiss said.
Behlmann started DASA in 1997 after working as a physical therapist in pediatrics.
Behlmann said team sports are better for emotional strength than regular physical therapy. Sports are good in that they offer a chance at teamwork, friendship and healthy competition as inspiration, she said.
"It's better to focus on the ability of a child rather than focus on fixing the 'dis,'" Behlmann said.
