A Watch Party For Lilly

Evansville IN

27 July, 2021

5:15 PM

Description

By Steve Burger, WNIN July 27, 2021 A crowd gathered at Bosse Field Monday evening to watch Evansville's Lilly King attempt to be the first woman to repeat as gold medalist in the one hundred meter breast stroke event at the Tokyo Olympics. For Edith Marks of Evansville, the watch party was a family affair. "Yes, my daughter, my granddaughter, my great granddaughter and my husband all came out to represent Lilly. Hope she brings back a gold to Evansville." When you're at a watch party, even at age seven like Aria Johnson, it's important to know who you're watching. "What do you know about Lilly King?" "That she swims." The gates opened at 7pm. Just before 9:30, it was time for the event. The crowd cheered, many rising to their feet to show their support for the local favorite. As you know by now, Lilly King did not win a gold medal in the event. That went to seventeen year old Lydia Jacoby from Seward, Alaska. King will bring a bronze medal back to Evansville. But that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd, which gave a hearty cheer for the accomplishment. And then, they finished up with a fireworks show anyway. Evansville's own Lilly King will swim for more gold at the Tokyo Olympics. A standout athlete from Dubois County could someday be playing baseball in Chicago. College careers delayed, hopes dashed. Midwestern high school athletes now have a much higher mountain to climb to get that D1 scholarship. WNIN is the NPR/PBS affiliate in Evansville, Indiana. We serve Southwestern Indiana, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois from our multimedia facility located on the Ohio River in downtown Evansville. For the past several years, the recognized quality of our local news has placed us among the best small market radio news organizations in the nation.