HARPERSFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Teenage student athletes from across the country gathered for Freedom 250's Patriot Games at Spire Academy over the past three days.
Over 120 athletes, along with their parents and families, descended on Ashtabula County for the event. Each state, U.S. territory, and some tribal nations are represented by one male and one female athlete between the ages of 14 and 17.
The multi-event athletic competition is tied to America's 250th anniversary celebration.
Athletes competed in a range of events, including sprints, hurdles, medicine ball throws, dodgeball and tug of war — all building toward a final showdown featuring a 270-foot obstacle course.
At stake is a $250,000 scholarship prize pool, split between one male and one female athlete.
As News 5 has previously reported, Spire Academy was chosen as the host site in part because of its connection to President Trump, who campaigned there as a candidate in 2016.
Among those competing is Zion John-Baptiste, a 16-year-old athlete representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, who happens to attend school at Spire Academy.
"It's been pretty fun – honestly, I go to school here, so it was pretty funny I was coming back cause I have to come back in a couple weeks," John-Baptiste said. "Good camaraderie – we got to meet a bunch of people from all over the US."
Ohio's two representatives are rising juniors Liam Nies from Cincinnati and Shannon Dressler from Hudson — a lacrosse player and a swimmer — each testing their overall athletic ability beyond their individual sports.
"You got to make the best of every situation here — don't slip up," Nies said
"I'm so happy it's here — since I've competed here before," Dressler said. "It's kind of just insane — be on land because I'm not a runner by any means. I'm not really good at catching balls. My main thing is swimming, endurance and strength in the water."
For Nies' mother, Kathleen Nies, the whole experience came as a bit of a surprise.
"He put the application in, and we're like — OK, that was fun," mother Kathleen Nies said. "Never expected to hear anything. And then we heard about it — and in Ohio?"
Additionally, another Spire student, Liv Harness, competed for Ohio as an alternate.
"It's been amazing – high full of energy competition, everybody has now known everybody – you're all talking to people, you're all making friends, when it's time to compete, we're competing. We're competing hard," Harness said.
The final event is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with President Trump expected to attend.
A one-hour primetime special highlighting the Patriot Games is set to air Thursday at 9 p.m. on WEWS.
Clay LePard is the Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage counties reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @ClayLePard, on Facebook ClayLePardTV or email him at Clay.LePard@wews.com.
