Coach
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Head Coach Debbie Ogden, of Fort Wright, has been a Special Olympics coach for 11 years, but has been working with people with intellectual disabilities for nearly three decades. Ogden coaches the Northern Kentucky Dolphins swim program during the Special Olympics Kentucky swim season. In addition to Special Olympics coaching, Ogden has also coached the Ludlow/Bromley swim/dive team, the St. Agnes School track and field team and the St. Agnes School fifth grade volleyball team in Fort Wright.
This will be Ogden’s first coaching experience at a USA or World Games. She is the Senior Executive Assistant in the Development Department at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati.
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Assistant Coach Phillip Norris, of Lexington, will be making his third consecutive trip to the USA Games with the Team Kentucky swimming delegation. He served as the Team Kentucky head coach in 2010 and 2014, leading the team to 16 medals including seven gold. The 2014 team won a team gold in the medley relay. Norris, who coaches the Frankfort Sunfish swim team during the Special Olympics aquatics season, swam collegiately at the University of Florida from 2000-03, earning four All-America honors. He won the Senior Leadership Award in 2003 and several of his times still rank among the Gators’ Top 10 all time, including second in the 100-meter Breaststroke. |
Athletes
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Hunter Eudy, of Independence, has been a Special Olympics athlete for eight years, and has been a swimmer for all eight. He is a member of the Northern Kentucky Dolphins swim team and is making his first ever USA Games trip.
Eudy, 20, works two days a week at Proctor and Gamble through their Project Reach program.
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Justin Hale, of Crestwood, will be making his first trip to the Special Olympics USA Games. He has been a Special Olympics athlete for four years, specializing in swimming. A member of the Stingrays swim team in Louisville, Hale, 14, is one of the youngest members of Team Kentucky for the 2018 Games. He is a student at the Academy for Individual Excellence in Louisville. He swims backstroke and freestyle.
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Andrew Janoski, of Lexington, is also making his first trip to the Special Olympics USA Games. He is a member of the Fintastics swim team in Lexington. Janoski, 33, has been a Special Olympics athlete for 12 years, competing in bowling in addition to swimming. He swims butterfly and freestyle. Janoski works at Kennedy Bookstore in Lexington. |
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Megan McCormick, of Lexington, has been a Special Olympics athlete for 17 years, competing in gymnastics and cheerleading in addition to swimming. McCormick, 28, is one of the most experienced members of the 2018 Team Kentucky delegation when it comes to high-level Special Olympics competition. She is a veteran of the 2003 and 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games, as well as the 2010 USA Games.
McCormick competed in artistic gymnastics at the 2003 World Games in Dublin, Ireland, earning five meals, including a gold and two silvers. McCormick swam at the 2007 Games in Shanghai, China, claiming a silver and a bronze medal. In Nebraska in 2010, McCormick won silver in the 100-meter butterfly at the USA Games. McCormick, who swims with the Fintastics team out of Lexington, is a graduate of Bluegrass Community and Technical College. She is a trained Special Olympics Global Messenger and speaks often on behalf of both Special Olympics and the Down Syndrome Association of Central Kentucky. She is also an accomplished pianist. She works as a camp counselor at the Beaumont YMCA In Lexington.
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Cassie Wright, of Louisville, has been a Special Olympics athlete for 13 years, and has competed in bowling in addition to swimming. Wright, 27, will also be making her first trip to a Special Olympics USA or World Games-level competition. A member of the Area 4 Dolphins swim team, Wright can swim all four strokes and competed in the Individual Medley at the 2017 State Summer Games. She works for the YMCA. |
Meet Team Kentucky