Community Notebook: Special Olympics teams win medals

The Clark County Reds won the gold medal for their softball classification during the Special Olympics of Washington Summer Sports Classic.

The state championships for golf and softball were held during the Aug. 18-19 events in Everett. The Reds were one of six softball teams from Clark County that qualified for the state tournament.

Playing for the Reds were Michael Cook, Dennis Dole Jr., Nathan Ellis, Russ Jones, Santos Lopez, Sam McIntyre, Levi Neil, Cory Robak, Ivan Soltero, Sean Starr, Andrew Stekhuizen, and Michael Vanoni. The Reds coaches were Bryan Cook, Audrey Stekhuizen, Christopher Stekhuizen, and Katie Kaiser.

Clark County athletes also won individual goal medals for softball skills and in the golf tournament. David Balas and Karen Hilby each won for softball skills, and teammate Krista Downey won a bronze medal.

In the golf tournament, Larry Mathews won a gold medal in the individual skills section. The Clark County Chippers James Carter and his unified partner Colin Wilcox earned a silver medal, finishing one shot back in their nine-hole tournament.

The Clark County Cardinals won softball silver medals. Cardinals players were Tina Colantuono, Cole Gaddis, Mallory Hamilton, Glenda Huhtala, Dusty Lang, Charlie Malik-Byers, Elijah Malik-Byers, Greg Martino, Charles Rymer, and Hannah Wampach. Coaches were Teresa Haliski, Emily Hamilton, and Amy Arnett.

The Clark County Pirates also won softball silver medals. Their players were Cedrick Armstrong, Dianna Bartusek, Jeremy Beer, Beth Descloux, Jeremy Descloux, Zacharius Descloux, Benford Jeni, Kristi Klingenmier, Phillip Klover, Peter Li, Ashley Medlock, Jennifer Moscou, David Nelson, Natalie Raylance, Tim Rogers, Isaac Shetler, and Richard William. The Pirates coaches were Amanda Johnson, Andrea Medlock, Jeff Wilkes, Aaron Medlock, and Olivia Salazar.

The Clark County Mariners won bronze medals. Mariners players were Alex Ables, Adam Barr, Karen Carrico, Jason Downey, Andrew Hopper-Jester, Nathaniel Little, Chris Rector, Deanna Sanders, Scott Shivvers, Cheron Skelton, Everett Smith, Luke Smith, and Eric Stage. Their coaches were Rick Cook, Jason Gallagher, and Aaron Smith.

The Clark County Cubs grabbed fourth-place ribbons in their softball bracket. Cubs players were Jacob Blunt, Tim Cook, William Cuff, Kenda Eaton, Craig Francis, Kelly Jeans, Preston Manor, Lizzy McIntyre, Brooke Murry, and Michael Suire. The Cubs coaches were Elizabeth Francis, JR Vela, and Billi Jo Smith.

The next sport offered by the Clark County chapter is bowling, which begins Sept. 8. To learn more about Special Olympics in Clark County, send an e-mail to Rick Cook at ccsowa@live.com.

Cosmo run draws crowd

A total of 776 women, many of them from Clark County and Portland, completed the first Cosmo 7K.

The 4.26-mile all-female footrace was held Aug. 11 in downtown Vancouver to benefit the Pink Lemonade Project and Fort Vancouver National Trust. The Pink Lemonade Project is a non-profit organization that serves local survivors of breast cancer.

Alexis McFate, 31, of Portland was the winner. Her time of 27 minutes, 11 seconds was more than two minutes ahead of runner-up Stephanie Lowe of Portland. The first Clark County finisher was Jessica Core of Vancouver. Core, 27, was sixth to finish and her time was 30:16.

The race started and finished near the Fort Vancouver barracks.

Race director Brian Davis of Energy Events said he plans to stage the race again in 2013.

Wrestling officials sought

The Evergreen Wrestling Officials Association, which provides the referees for high school and middle school wrestling matches in Clark and Skamania counties, will begin preparing for the 2012-13 seasons in September. Anyone interested in learning about becoming a wrestling official should contact Mike Jordan at 360-513-6937 or at groundmike@yahoo.com.

Food drive a success

An estimated 42,000 pounds of food was collected Saturday during the Titans Youth Foundation and Clark County Youth Football Jamboree Food Drive. The fourth-annual food drive was held in conjuction with the traditional kickoff to the CCYF season, with games played throughout Saturday at Kiggins Bowl. The 42,000 pounds would be a record for the event, according to organizer Nolan Henry.

COMMUNITY SPORTS NEWS is published each Tuesday. Submit items for consideration by calling 360-735-4521 or sending e-mail to paul.danzer@columbian.com.