WEST POINT, N.Y. (Army News Service) -- The Army made its mark, June 16, with its male athletes taking seven gold medals in shot put and discus while Army female athletes garnered six gold medals in those sports at the Department of Defense Warrior Games.
Veterans Sgt. Ryan Major, Staff Sgt. Matthew Mihacsi, Staff Sgt. Gregory Quarles and Spc. Dustin Barr all earned gold medals for Team Army in their categories of men's seated shot put. Barr threw for the longest distance: 10.46 meters.
Snagging gold medals in his men's standing shot put and standing discus throw, veteran Spc. Heywood Range III said he worked hard for the victories, but noted an injury during the 800-meter dash in track slightly hampered his performance in field.
"We trained to come out here and compete and win," Range said, adding, a word of advice to future competition hopefuls. "Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do something because of injury or illness. Hold yourself to a higher standard."
Spc. David Snipes took bronze in the same standing discus throw category as Range with the United Kingdom's David Shaw finishing in the middle for silver.
Sgt. David Jones took gold in the men's standing discuss throw category 5.5L with a final throw of 36.6 meters.
Veteran Spc. Michael Stephens took gold in the men's standing discuss throw for the visually impaired. The Air Force's Frederic Rosario took silver and Army's Mathew Mueller took bronze.
Veteran Capt. Ryan Brunett won silver in the men's standing discuss throw, category 4.5 behind the Air Force's Sven Perryman.
Veteran Sgt. Stefan LeRoy took silver in the Category 4.0 standing shot put as Special Operations Command's Edward O'Neill snagged the gold.
Mihacsi also took silver in the men's seated discus throw, category 3.0 and Army Veteran Staff Sgt. Timothy Payne took silver.
ARMY WOMEN
Veterans Spc. Sidney Davis and Sgt. Monica Southall earning gold in both their women's standing shot put categories and standing discuss categories. Southall's winning shot put went 11.46 meters in category 5.5L. Davis threw the shot put 10.03 meters in category 6.0.
In standing discus, Davis threw 37.95 meters and Southall went 35.94 meters.
Staff Sgt. Ashley Anderson took silver in the women's standing shot put 6.0 category with a final toss of 9.62 meters.
Spc. Stephanie Morris earned gold in seated women's discus throw, category 6.0 and Spc. Shealynn Casserly took the bronze as the United Kingdom's Daniell Hampson-Carroll took silver.
Capt. Kelly Elmlinger won gold in the seated shot put category 5.0 with a final of 5.66 meters.
Field events include seated shot put, standing shot put, seated discus and standing discus, with varying weights of each for men and women, in addition to seated and standing variations. Athletes compete in different classification categories based on functional abilities, including impaired muscle power or range of movement, limb deficiency and visual impairment.
The adaptive sports competition for wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans features some 250 athletes representing Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, U.S. Special Operations Command and the United Kingdom armed forces, highlighting the resilience and warrior spirit of service members, veterans and their families and caregivers. About 160 athletes participated in one or more track and field events.
Social Sharing