05/23/2026
We wanted to brag on our employee, Matt Owens, who made the Austin American-Statesman today! Matt will be part of a Unified team of typical and neurodivergent athletes competing in the Austin triathlon! He is truly an inspiration for so many reasons! Go Matt, goooo! 😍🏊♀️💪
'They can do it, too': Athletes with Down syndrome, autism compete in Austin triathlon
Club helps guide swimmers, runners with intellectual differences
through the course.
By Nicole Villalpando, Staff Writer
May 23, 2026
Kayleigh Williamson and Carter Cawley are running up and down hills by West Fifth Street as part of the Austin Triathlon Club's training. "If I didn't run, I would be bored," Cawley said. Williamson runs because of the inspiration of her "heavenly" grandmother. "She tells me to go farther," Williamson said.
The next day, Matt Owens strikes a pose to show off his arm muscles, or "his guns," as he and his father call them. Owens starts walking toward Lake Travis where he and Stewart Mickler will swim around a marina, getting used to communicating with each other.
On Monday, Williamson, Cawley and Owens will cross the finish line at the Ascension Seton SuperTri as part of two unified triathlon teams. Williamson and Owens will be on a team with Mickler, who will guide them through their parts of the race by running a 5K with Williamson and swimming 750 meters with Owens. Mickler will do the middle part of the race, the cycling, alone. All three will cross the finish line together. Williamson, 36, and Owens, 27, both have Down syndrome. Cawley, 20, will run a 5K with Jeff Campbell, who will swim and cycle before Cawley joins him for the run. Cawley has autism.
Part of the mission of the Austin Triathlon Club is "to help spread the joy of triathlon to other people," Mickler said. Williamson, Cawley and Owens compete in the Special Olympics, but they also compete in non-Special Olympics events.
On Sunday, Williamson is running her 30th half-marathon in Calgary before flying home to run the triathlon the next morning. She also regularly runs the Austin Distance Challenge races, and plans to return in November for her third New York City Marathon. She swims, plays basketball and other sports with Special Olympics or supportive programs. "I love running," Williamson said. "It keeps me healthy."
Owens swam on his high school swim team in Wimberley, and now swims four times a week, including with a swim team of people his dad's age. His father was his high school swim coach and competed in triathlons years ago. His brother and sister were also swimmers. Owens' best stroke is the breaststroke,
which has helped him outswim his sister and some of his teammates. Mickler was worried that if Owens gets going, he might leave him in the dust, which is why they were
practicing their communication in the water last week. "I'm just going to swim beside him," Mickler said. "He's the racer.”
Cawley regularly runs around his neighborhood with his phone on blast by his ear as if it's a boombox. "It's a sense of freedom for him," said his mother, Tish Cawley. "It also builds confidence." Cawley also plays soccer on a Special Olympics team. This will be his first triathlon. "This is going to be cool to run in front of all my fans," he said.
When athletes compete in the Special Olympics, it's often just fellow athletes and their parents watching. When they can compete alongside people who are neurotypical, it gives them confidence. They are doing what their friends and family members are also doing. "He's just as capable as anybody else," Tish Cawley said. Mickler is hoping family members of people with disabilities will see these teams and want to join next
year. "Athletes with special needs didn't always feel comfortable" participating in sports with neurotypical people, Mickler said.
"They are helping people to see they can do it, too," Tish Cawley said of her son, Owens and Williamson.
Campbell loves running with Cawley. They talk about everything from wrestling, which is a Cawley favorite, to dogs to Texas Longhorns teams. "Mostly, it's very ordinary," Campbell said of his run with Cawley. "It's a wonderful way to go out for a run.”
Mickler helped connect Williamson and Cawley to be on a team together. Finding a neurodivergent person to cycle is difficult because of differences in balance. The cycling portion also is the most intimidating, both Mickler and Campbell said, because of the number of people biking into one another.
"We are so lucky to have people who want to do this with them," Tish Cawley said. Her son, she said, "has to put in twice to three times the work ... "but it's so worth it."
https://www.statesman.com/news/healthcare/article/austin-supertri-unified-athletes-22261350.php
