Special Olympics

Swimmer Zachary Posten, of Laurel High, will compete with Team USA at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece, June 25 to July 4. Zachary has competed in Special Olympics as a swimmer for four years, and competed at the county, regional and state swimming competitions for the first time in 2010. Athletes for the U.S. teams were chosen by a random drawing from among those who won gold medal during their sport's state finals. Maryland's delegation to the games includes 16 athletes and seven coaches and managers.

With a few minutes to spare before running a 400-meter race in Maryland's Special Olympics, Mike Heup waited in the stands and contemplated his game plan. To escape the hot sun, the 31-year-old Anne Arundel County resident wanted to cool off under a water misting station at Johnny Unitas Stadium at Towson University, a long-time host to the games, which ended Sunday afternoon. Not a good idea, his mom warned: Wet sneakers wouldn't be kind to him in a race. Instead, Heup, a 10-year-veteran of the games who works at a grocery store, drank bottled water and iced himself down.

In the fall of 2006, the Students for Disabilities Awareness club at St. Paul's School for Girls was searching for a way to use sports to bring its members together with students who are physically or mentally disabled. LuAnn Blackman, the club's faculty sponsor, reached out to League of Dreams founder Frank Kolarek to explore the possibility of a partnership. "To this day she laughs," Kolarek said, "because I don't think I answered her first email. " Blackman eventually did contact Kolarek, and, with the help of League of Dreams, St. Paul's has just completed its fifth annual spring baseball program with special-needs students from Ridge Ruxton School.

Arnold Palmer's memories of Baltimore date back to Mount Pleasant Golf Course and an ugly opening drive that might still be bouncing somewhere along Hillen Road. This was in 1956 at the Eastern Invitational Tournament, which he would go on to win after that rocky start. But let him tell it. "I was playing with Doug Ford," he recalled in a phone conversation this week from his home in Latrobe, Pa. "I was tired, I'd been playing in a lot of tournaments and I rushed up to the (first)

Pimlico Race Course Ben's Cat races to repeat in $75K Mister Diz Stakes The Jim Stable's Ben's Cat carried Jeremy Rose to a repeat score in the $75,000 Mister Diz Stakes, Saturday's feature offering at Pimlico Race Course . Bred, owned and trained by the legendary King Leatherbury , Ben's Cat won for the ninth time in 12 lifetime starts. The son of Parker's Storm Cat has won four stakes since his debut as a 4-year-old last year, but this was his first added-money victory racing on the main track.

It's time to take the plunge with Pauly D. Relax, now, because I'm not talking about moving to New Jersey or having to bunk down between J-Wow and Sammi Sweetheart. What I'm talking about is the annual Polar Bear Plunge at Sandy Point State Park . Bare it all – or maybe leave something on – for the "coolest" event this side of the ice floe. Did I mention that the Chesapeake Bay is close to freezing over this winter? Still, thousands will likely show up for the plunge, a fundraiser for the Maryland Special Olympics that's in its 15th year.

The country lost a very devout and public Catholic when Sargent Shriver passed away this past week, with a tremendous outpouring of affection evident at his funeral yesterday in Potomac's Our Lady of Mercy Church. He believed deeply in non-violence and social justice and was involved in launching a dizzying array of programs that put those beliefs into action. Between the Peace Corps and the Special Olympics, which was a lifelong labor of love with his wife Eunice, he touched the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

More than 81 hours after it began, the stand-up comedy marathon at Magooby's Joke House ended late Thursday night after setting a new world record for longest continuous stand-up comedy show. "It's time for sleep now," an exhausted but clearly elated Andrew Unger, the owner of Magooby's, said after the record was broken during an appearance by 98-Rock's Mickey Cucchiella. "I am very, very proud of what you all accomplished," he added to a standing ovation from the packed house.

A fundraising footrace that benefits the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center is moving from Timonium to Maple Lawn in southern Howard County for its next event May 15, 2011. The three-year-old half-marathon event has raised $450,000 for the center, to which Maple Lawn developer Stuart Greenebaum donated $10 million in the early 1990s after his wife Marlene's two bouts with breast cancer . The announcement came Tuesday at a news conference. Race organizers said they decided on the location to create a new experience for runners after two years in Baltimore County.

Motorists won't be able to drive on the Intercounty Connector until late this year or early in 2011, but on Oct. 17, runners and walkers will be able to use it as part of a fundraising event for the Special Olympics Maryland. The state will open part of the first phase of the ICC — between Shady Grove and Georgia Avenue in Montgomery County — for a 5-kilometer walk/run that Sunday, starting at 9 a.m. According to the State Highway Administration, nearly 200 people have registered so far, bringing $6,000 in pledges.