BEVERLYWOOD : Castle Heights Students Take Olympic Cue

They may not be named Jackie Joyner-Kersee or Carl Lewis, but the youngsters at Castle Heights Elementary School are Olympic champions in their own right.

The school recently held its annual Olympic Day for its more than 550 students--kindergarten through fifth grade. To kick off the day’s festivities, six kindergartners carried paper torches with the strains of “Chariots of Fire” playing from a tape recorder in the background.

The children ran relays, passing off bean bags and balls in place of batons. In one race, the competitors ran laps and then squeezed water-soaked sponges into glass bottles, trying to fill them.

Other events included basketball dribbling, softball tossing and carrying small whiffle balls on spoons.

Unlike other Olympics, there were no medals awaiting the challengers of the Castle Heights Games.

“They won the satisfaction of participating,” said Jane Wishon, president of the PTA and a parent of two students at the school. “We wanted to play up the fun and the enjoyment of the day, not the competitiveness.”