Five Team Indiana Athletes Win Track and Field Events at USA Games

Joseph McIntyre received gold medals in his first two track and field events at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minnesota.

On Wednesday, the Team Indiana athlete won his division of the shot put with a throw of 8.53 meters and 400-meter walk with a time of 2:49.81.

On Thursday, he came close to going 3-for-3 but settled for a silver medal in the mini-javelin with a toss of 15.18 meters.

Still, he was very happy to receive a medal in all three of his events.

“I think for me, it’s still a win-win situation. I’ll still take it,” McIntyre of Clark-Floyd Counties said, smiling. “I don’t have to win three gold medals just to prove that I’m the best as long as I’ll be able to try my best and pretty much work hard and also most importantly, just have fun.”

In the shot put, he relied on the training he had done at home to carry him through on the national stage.

“I just have to try my best and just take the methods for what I did during my at-home training,” McIntyre said. “Basically, I calculated the distance and measured the field within sight so that way, I at least know where my mark will be.”

For the 400-meter walk, he said every athlete has their own strategy.

“I try to start off on my left foot upwards a little bit, and then as soon as the gun fires, I pretty much just kind of push forward,” he said. “Then from there, I just do my normal, average speed walk.”
While throwing the mini-javelin, McIntyre said it felt a little different than what he has at home, so that impacted him some.

Overall, he was happy with his final medal collection.

“It was actually pretty good. It was awesome,” McIntyre said. “I never thought that I actually would be able to ever go this far, honestly.”

He credits his mother, Tanya Hicks, for that.

“My mom pretty much basically was the one that had me training the most. She got me up and going,” McIntyre said.

He was happy to have his mom and brother, Jessie Hicks, there cheering him on.

“Oh, it’s amazing, especially with my brother also being here,” McIntyre said.

Shelby Baker of Benton County also earned a gold medal for Team Indiana. In the mini-javelin finals, she won her division with a throw of 20.4 meters.

She set a personal record in that twice: 19.35 in the preliminaries Tuesday and then in the finals on her first throw.

“I just put in my practicing every day at home because I have my own mini-javelins at home,” Baker said. “I’ve improved on the mini-jav so much because at the last USA Games (in 2022 in Orlando, Florida), I got bronze, third place.”

On Wednesday, Baker ran the 200-meter dash preliminaries and finished in 37.04. The finals are Friday.

On Thursday, she ran the 100-meter dash finals and earned a bronze medal with a finish of 17.51 seconds. Emi Hamazaki of Alaska won that division with a time of 16.52.

Andrew Hollis of Dubois County earned Team Indiana’s third gold medal. On Wednesday, he won his division of the running long jump with a leap of 2.66 meters. Also that day, he earned silver in the shot put with a heave of 6.72 meters.

On Thursday, he received a silver medal in the 100 finals, clocking 17.88 seconds. New Mexico’s James Keefner edged him at the line with a finish of 17.75.

Also running the 100 finals Thursday were Blake Buckner of Hamilton County, who took fifth in his division in 12.74 seconds, and Heather Zwingelberg of Posey County, who placed eighth in her division in 18.58 seconds.

Buckner’s 100 was particularly interesting, as all seven runners finished between 12.31 and 12.95.

The day before, Buckner received a bronze medal in running long jump for his jump of 4.73 meters, and Danielle Oehlman of Porter County earned bronze in the 5,000-meter run, clocking 27:03.08.

The track team’s fourth gold medalist is Alexandria Gotoh of Bartholomew-Brown-Jennings Counties. On Thursday, she won her division of the 800-meter run in 3:23.06.

The fifth gold medalist is Nathan DeWitt of Hancock County, who on the second day of competition Tuesday won his division of the 1,500-meter run in 5:18.57.