Clark County Special Olympians bring back a haul of gold

Clark County athletes won medals in a variety of sports at the Special Olympics of Washington Summer Games, which were held June 4-6 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The Summer Games wrap up the spring season, during which athletes practice with their teams in preparation for the state championships. Sports in the Summer Games were swimming, soccer, track and field, cycling and powerlifting.

Registration is open summer Special Olympics programs, which in Clark County include softball and golf. There is no fee to participate.

To learn about becoming a Special Olympics athlete, or to volunteer, contact Clark County Sports Coordinator, Rick Cook, by e-mail at CCSOWA@live.com.

Listed below are teams and athletes from Clark County who won medals at the Summer Games.

Soccer

The Vancouver Terriers won a gold medal. Players were Jeremy Eescloux, Antonio Guijarro, Ashley Medlock, Cesar Sanchez, Alicia Sanders, Patrick Saturay, Keysi Severino, Tanner Stintson, Rose Walker. The team’s head coach was Jayne King.

Grant Richards won individual gold for soccer skills.

The Clark County Bulldogs won a silver medal. Players were: David Ables, Adam Barr, Russ Jones, Chris Rector, Cory Robak, Robert Schmitz, Ivan

Soltero, Schyler Zychowicz. The head coach was Steve Schmitz.

The Clark County Cougars took fourth place in their division. Players were: Danny Baragary, Jason Baumgartner, Joseph Dawson, Mathew Folkerts, Matt Jenkins, Jason Sorenson, Sean Starr, John Veals, Fiona Wimber, and Corban Zychowicz, Corban. The Cougars’ coach was Elizabeth Francis

The Clark County Jaguars placed eighth in their tournament. Players were: Jacob Blunt, Casey Ellison, Craig Francis, Kelly Jeans, Lauren Milam, and Mike Suire. The coach was Billi Jo Smith.

Swimming

The Clark County Dolphins won eight gold medals, eight silver medals, nine bronze and had several other place-winners.

Swimming for the Dolphins were: Laura Abernathy, Chelsea Baxter, Aaron Bernabe, Jordan Brown, James Carter, David Cralley, Jerrod Crowson, Brian Dahl, Danielle Davis, Mariah Davis, Natasha Dever, Sammy Dost, Lonnie Gaul, Ellen Hardy, Sophia Iandoli-Perillo, Zachary Kersavage, Thomas Edward Kukkola, Rachel Quattlebaum, Jonathon Schauer, Angelina Schubothe, Tara Taylor, Mike Trent, Bryanna Zychowics. The head coach was Michelle Dever

Track and Field

The Clark County Flying Eagles athletes earned 31 gold medals, nine silver, and 10 bronze. The male (55.9) and female (113.7) relays received gold.

Michael Cook won a gold medal in the pentathlon (100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400 meters). Dennis Dole, Jr. and Ally Warner each won four gold medals. Samantha Spencer, Patrick Blue, and Deanna Sanders won three golds apiece. Katharine Sanders, Scott Shivvers, William Cuff, Jason Downey and Jeremy Haliski each collected a pair of gold medals. Becky Johnson, Lisa Benson and Dusty Lang each won a single gold medal.

Other members of the team were: Diana Bartusek, Jonathon Chidester, Holly Cook, Tim Cook, Heather Doenecke, Melody Malik, Everett Lee Smith, and Jason Turner. Unified partners for the Flying Eagles were Bryan Cook and Katie Kaiser. The head coach was Rick Cook.

Members of the Vancouver Silver Wolves, coached by Kelly West, won five gold medals, nine silver medals, eight bronze medals and had a pair of fourth-places.

Competing for the Silver Wolves were Charlie Chiedu, Megan Davis, Lorie Deyna, Carrie Glasscock, Emily Glenn, Chrisanna Hansen, Josh Holmes, Kianna Johnson, Megan Kelly, Paul Lam, Danielle Stewart, and Mark Stewart.

Cycling

The Clark County Dragonflies won seven gold medals, six silver and five bronze. Members of the cycling team were Sean Dinsmore, Krista Downey, Kenda Eaton, William Ferguson IV, Ron Gebbie, Karen Hilby, Jeremy Huck, and Aundrew Virelles. Zane Thompson participated as a unified partner.

The Dragonflies’ head coach was Vicki Cook.

Powerlifting

The Clark County Bulldogs coached by Amy Cheng won nine gold medals. The lifters were John Doumit, Doug McPherson, and Jeff Smith.