A total of 19 athletes from Boothbay traveled to the Special Olympics Maine Winter Games 2014, held at Sugarloaf in late January.

The athletes competed in three alpine skiing events, downhill, slalom and giant slalom.

The athletes brought home a total of seven gold, ten silver and eight bronze medals. They also placed fourth in ten events, fifth in seven events, sixth in five events, seventh in three events, and eight in one event. The athletes also received four participation ribbons.

Most impressive of all was that the team took home the Brian T. McGovern Team Spirit Award. This trophy goes to the team the judges feel shows the greatest unity and demonstrates a strong level of cooperation and kindness.

Teacher Toby LeConte spoke about two situations the judges had cited that they felt showed the team spirit Boothbay had. One of these was when skier Chloe Desjardins, aged 10, was heading out of the lodge. There was a man also leaving ahead of her who was having some trouble. He dropped his gloves and ski poles and was having issues. Desjardins picked up the man's items and helped him. Another instance was when Bobby Edwards, age 9, won the gold medal in slalom skiing. The rest of the placers in his race were over 18, and over twice his height. While standing on the gold platform, he turned to the silver medalist, shook his hand and said congratulations.

The athletes ranged in age from ages 8 through 47, with all ages competing together by skill level rather than age. The highest skilled athletes compete at level 4.

Level 1 skiers were Hailey Emerick and John Rankin, both age 11. Emerick took a gold in giant slalom and a participation ribbon in downhill, while Rankin took a silver in both slalom and giant slalom.

Level 2 skiers were Vincent Giles, age 11; Grace Giles, age 10; and Kasey Graves, age 11. Vincent Giles took bronze in giant slalom, silver in slalom and fourth in downhill. Grace Giles took fourth in giant slalom, bronze in slalom and fifth in downhill. Graves took fifth in giant slalom, fourth in slalom and silver in downhill.

Level 3 skiers were Bobby Edwards, age 9; Matthew Hyson, age 10; Deshawn Averill, age 8; Danny Miller, age 19; Chloe Desjardins, age 10; and Amber Hyson, age 13. Edwards got bronze in giant slalom, gold in slalom and seventh in downhill. Matthew Hyson got silver in giant slalom, 6th in slalom and eighth place in downhill. Averill got sixth in giant slalom, seventh in slalom and gold in downhill. Miller got sixth in giant slalom, fifth in slalom, and fourth in downhill. Desjardins got fourth in giant slalom, sixth in slalom and gold in downhill. Amber got bronze in slalom, fourth in downhill and received a participation award for giant slalom.

Level 3 skiers were Thomas Wilcox, age 14; Valerie Giles, age 12; Joey Ranco, age 28; Donny Dunning, age 33; Brenda LeConte, age 41; Ronda LeConte, age 47; and Matt Farnham, age 37. Wilcox took silver in both slalom and giant slalom and seventh in downhill. Giles took sixth in giant slalom, bronze in slalom and silver in downhill. Ranco took gold in giant slalom, and bronze in both slalom and downhill. Dunning took gold in both slalom and giant slalom, and fourth place in downhill. Brenda LeConte took fourth in both slalom and giant slalom, and fifth in downhill. Ronda LaConte took fifth in both slalom and giant slalom, and bronze in downhill. Farnham took fifth in giant slalom, fourth in slalom and received a participation ribbon in downhill.

Accompanying the athletes were K-12 teacher Toby LeConte, and adults Rachel Jones, Connie Faulkingham, Devon Crawford, Mary Palowski, Connie Colby, Dee Hines, and Lori Ranco. Eight partners also came, including Dylan Geyer, Sinead Miller, Christy Tozier, Lisa Palowski, Addie Stone, Maddy Faulkingham, Ellison Boord and Mitchell Partner.