Jimmy Steinruck, a 30-year veteran of Special Olympics, has been selected as the athlete of the month for March. Steinruck is the son of Bill and Barb Steinruck of Williamsport.

The results for Volunteer of the Month are in and that honor has gone to Tracy Rooker who has been involved with Lycoming County Special Olympics for the past 14 years.

During his time being involved in Special Olympics, Steinruck has trained and competed in the sports of Aquatics, Bowling, Snowshoeing, Track and Field, and Volleyball. Recently he attended the State Indoor Winter Games held in York, Pennsylvania and competed in Bowling.

At that competition he participated in the singles event and brought home a gold medal by finishing his six games with a total pin fall of 1442. Steinruck also attended the Outdoor State Winter Games, held at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, and competed in Snowshoeing doing the 100 Meters, 200 Meters, 400 Meters and 4 x 100 Meter relay events, returning home with two gold medals, one silver medal and a 4th place ribbon.

Currently, Steinruck is training in his favorite sport, Aquatics, as he is preparing for multiple upcoming swimming invitationals and the 2023 State Summer Games scheduled to be held at Penn State University, June 9–11.

Outside of Special Olympics, he works at Hope Enterprise and enjoys the other individuals he works with on a daily basis. He also loves traveling, walking, and singing. However, his most favorite thing is being involved in Special Olympics and traveling to Villanova University in the fall to compete in Volleyball.

Tracy Rooker, current County Manager, has been a volunteer for Lycoming County Special Olympics for the past 14 years. Since Lycoming County Special Olympics is run totally by volunteers, everyone serves vital roles in the organization. Throughout her involvement with Special Olympics, Rooker has always been available to serve and fulfill any role that she is asked to help with and is an outstanding member of the Lycoming County Special Olympics volunteer staff and an Advisory Committee member. In addition to being County Manager, she has served in other various positions during her tenure, including being the Head of Delegation where she is responsible for the actions of everyone attending competitions, being a Head and or Assistant Coach where she needs to prepare athletes for competition and make sure they get to their events on time and also serving as the county’s Competition Coordinator for about 5 years.

Rooker, whose son is a Lycoming County Special Olympics athlete, has traveled with athletes all throughout Pennsylvania and has been involved in Athletics, Aquatics, Basketball, Bowling, Snowshoeing, Soccer and Volleyball. Recently, she served as an Assistant Snowshoe Coach for the athletes who attended the State Outdoor Winter Games in Seven Springs Mountain Resort. Currently she is coaching athletes in Aquatics, serves as a volunteer in Track and Field and Basketball. In responding as to why she is involved as a volunteer Rooker stated that, “Special Olympics allows the athletes to grow, gain confidence in themselves and allows them that they can accomplish things that they never thought they could do.”

Congratulations to both for a job well done. Go Lycoming County Special Olympics.