Colleen Turner has been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to Sydney, Australia, and compete in an international track-and-field competition on the practice field built originally for the 2000 Summer Olympics.
In order to receive this offer, Turner (a senior at Bluestem High School) had to be recommended for the games, not only on the basis of her athletic ability, but also on her qualities as an individual. The offer is extended to only a certain number of participants, and spots on each state’s team are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Turner’s portion of the competition itself will cover 2 1/2 days, plus a few days of training, but the entire trip will last 11-12 days.
Turner, the daughter of William and Jamie Turner of Leon, currently throws the discus and javelin at BHS. Her best competitive distances are 108 feet, 9 inches in the discus and 89-11 in the javelin. If she had attended last summer’s competition in Sydney, she would have placed third and fourth, respectively, in those events with those marks.
Turner also currently holds a 4.0 grade-point average and is studying to be a chemical engineer. She has received awards in speech and musical competitions. She plays trombone in the band at BHS, and she played in the El Dorado Municipal Band over the summer. She sings soprano in the Chambers Choir at school. She is a member of the CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) and helps out in church as an altar server.
Colleen is planning to attend the National March for Life Youth Pilgrimage in Washington, D.C., in January and has been an active Butler County 4-H member for nine years. She was also a camp counselor at the Rock Springs 4-H Camp, in which she counseled a group of fifth-grade girls.
Turner also plays volleyball at BHS, where she has played setter for the last four years. She has recited poetry in Forensics for one year, participated in the school play for two years and will play the part of “The Jester” in the school’s upcoming Renaissance Feast. She also volunteers at a local haunted house in October and has been co-captain of the El Dorado Animal Clinic’s Relay for Life team for three years.
DownUnder Sports has offered Colleen an opportunity to be an ambassador for the community, state and country, and to compete overseas. Each invitee must raise $4,900 needed to fund the trip. As far as anyone knows, Turner is the only invitee from Butler County.
If anyone would like to know more about the DownUnder Sports program, visit their Web site (www.downundersports.com). If anyone would like to help Turner in her fund-raising endeavor, your tax-deductible donations should be made out to ISSI (International Sports Specialists, Inc.) and can be mailed to her at 2810 S.E. 60th, Leon, KS, 67074.
