Large haul of medals for Clark County Special Olympians at state event

Special Olympics of Washington held state championships for five sports June 3-5 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and athletes from Clark County earned medals in all five.

During the opening ceremoniesa, Clark County athlete Mike Cook carried the Flame of Hope to commence the Special Olympics Washington Summer Games. Clark County Special Olympics brought home a total of 165 medals. Here is the list:.

In swimming, the Clark County Dolphins won 20 gold medals, 15 silver medals and 12 bronze medals.

Swimmers for the Dolphins were: Brian Andrade, Nicholas Ball, Kristy Carnine, James Carter, Jerrod Crowson, Mariah Davis, Natasha Dever, Shelby Hilvyak, Sophia Iandoli-Perillo, Zachary Kersavage, Alyssa Kwak, Lauren Milam, Heidi Moss, Stacey Page, Sara Polendey, Jonathon Schauer, Rebekah Skufca, Tara Taylor, George Valentine, Donovan Wark, Bryanna Zychowics, Kayla Bukles, Laura Abernathy, Nick Dever, Rachel Quattlebaum, Jake Dever, KD Hardy, Erika Dewald, and Zachary Kersavage.

The Dolphins head coach was Michelle Dever.

In track and field, the Flying Eagles won 34 gold medals, 25 silver medals and 10 bronze medals.

Athletes and Unified Partners for the Flying Eagles were:

Rachel Akins, Matt Baker, Diana Bartusek, Lisa Benson, Patrick Blue, Bryan Cook, Holly Cook, Michael Cook, Tim Cook, Heather Doenecke, Dennis Dole Jr., Jason Downey, Jeremy Haliski, Emily Hamilton, Josh Holmes, Becky Johnson, Katie Kaiser, Dusty Lang, Santos Lopez, Chris Rector, Cory Robak, Deanna Sanders, Katharine Sanders, Lynnadelle Schoeneberg, Angelina Schubothe, Everett Smith, Michelle Smith, Samantha Spencer, Eric Stage, Andrew Stekhuizen, and Ally Warner. Head coach for the Flying Eagles was Rick Cook.

In cycling, the Dragonflies won eight gold medals, eight silver medals and 13 bronze medals. The Dragonflies athletes and Unified Partners were: David Brown, Heather Carvalho, Rose Davis, Krista Downey, Kenda Eaton, William Ferguson IV, Ron Gebbie, Karen Hilby, Jeremy Huck, David Meliza, Zane Thompson, Aundrew Virelles, and Hannah Wampach. The head coach was Vicki Cook, assisted by Dennis Huck.

In powerlifting, Jeff Hogland earned three gold medals, Doug McPerson won three gold medals, and Aaron Cook earned a silver medal and two bronze medals. The powerlifters were coached by Amy Cheng.

In soccer, the Vancouver Terriers won gold medals. Players were: Jeremy Descloux, Anna Fish, Antonio Guijarro, Ashley Medlock, Maria Preciado, Enrique Rodriguez, Cesar Sanchez, Patrick Saturay, Keysi Servino-Gomez, and Tanner Stinson. The head coach was Jayne King assisted by Chris Newell.

The Bulldogs won fourth-place soccer ribbons. Players were Emma Wilson, Adam Barr, Kevynn Bogart, Nathan Ellis, Russ Jones, Robert Schmitz, Ivan Soltero, Jason Sorenson, and Sean Starr. The head coach was Steve Schmitz, assisted by Morgan Schmitz.

The Jaguars won fourth-place soccer ribbons. Their players were: Jacob Blunt, Craig Francis, Shawn Hassig, Kay Heilbronner, Kelly Jeans, Matt Jenkins, Michael Suire, Alex Trimble, Jackie Winters. The head coach was Billi Jo Smith assisted by Linda Devlin.

The Cougars won eighth-place soccer ribbons. Their players were: Alex Ables, Danny Baragary, Jason Baumgartner, Jonathan Boyles, Thomas Chidwick, Joseph Dawson, Matthew Folkerts, Glenda Huhtala, John Veals. The head coach was Elizabeth Francis, assisted by Barry Gill.