Valley athletes succeed at Special Olympics

The 2003 Special Olympics Alaska (SOAK) Summer Games drew hundreds of athletes, coaches and volunteers to Anchorage June 13-15, including a large contingent from the Valley.

The inspiring action got under way June 13, as the SOAK organized a send-off celebration for the 31 Alaskans traveling to Ireland to take part in the 2003 World Summer Games. The send off also served as an open house for SOAK's new Athlete Center and office on Mountain View. Immediately following were the opening ceremonies, which included a fly over by Elmendorf Air Force Base F-15 fighter jets.

Special Olympics Inc. is an accredited program of Special Olympics Inc., a global organization that provides sports training and competition to people with mental retardation. In Alaska, Special Olympics serves about 1,000 athletes in nearly two dozen communities through local training programs. Athletes attending the state games had trained for at least two months, and had participated in local "area" summer games, to qualify for state competition. This year, 10 communities were represented at the State Games: Anchorage, Central Peninsula, Galena, Juneau, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Mat-Su Valley, Seward, Fairbanks and Valdez.

Two days of exciting summer sports competition followed the opening ceremonies over the weekend. West Anchorage High School hosted basketball, powerlifting, track & field, and swimming & diving competitions. Anchorage Gymnastics Center hosted the gymnastics events.

The following are results for Valley athletes:

Melony Adams, gold in 25 backstroke, 25 freestyle, 50 freestyle and silver in 4X25 free relay; John Albataresh, bronze in unified basketball team; Ravi Arrington, gold in 25 floatation and participation ribbons in 15 unassisted and 15 walk; Calvin Beasley, bronze in unified basketball team; Rodney Bowers, gold in 4x25 relay, silver in 25 freestyle, brozne in 25 backstrokea nd participation ribbon in 50 freestyle; Jacob Brown, silver in basketball; Michael Brown, golds in 10 assisted, silver in 15 floatation and bronze in 15 walk; Charlie Burlile, golds in 25 backstroke, 50 backstroke and 4x25 free relay, silver in 50 freestyle; Talia Burlile, sivlers in 10 assisted and 15 walk, bronze in 15 floatation; Ted Campbell, bronze in unified basketball team; Krystina Collins, silvers in 25 backstroke, 50 freestyle and 4x25 free relay, fourth-place in 25 freestyle; Andre Coulombe, bronze in basketball team; John Dill, gold in 15 walk and silver in 10 assisted; Bob Doyle, bronze in unified basketball team; Sandra Dunaway, golds in 10 assisted and 15 floatation, silver in softball throw and bronze in 15 walk; Daniel Edell, bronze in basketball; Derek Edgerton, silver in basketball; Rob Enderson, bronze in basketball; Melanie Flowers, golds in 50 backstroke, 50 freestyle and silvers in 100 backstroke and 4x25 free relay; Matthew Gordon, golds in 50 freestyle and 4x25 free relay, participation ribbon in 50 backstroke; Erik Greene, gold in 15 walk, bronze in basketball skills, fourth-place in speed dribble; Mark Grummett, gold in run long jump and shot put, fifth in 50 dash and participation ribbon in 100 walk; Jason Hamilton, bronze in unified basketball; Jeremy Hartman, gold in 25 backstroke, 25 freestyle, 4x25 free and silver in 50 freestyle; Jennifer Havins, sivlers in 50 freestyle and 4x25 free relay, fourths in 25 backstroke and 25 freestyle; Aaron Helmick, silver in basketball skills and bronze in speed dribble; Brandy Helmick, golds in 15 walk, basketball skills and speed dribble, silver in 15 floatation and brozne in 15 unassisted; Devin Helmick, bronze in basketball team; Erin Higgins, silver in basketball team; Lisa Hobbs, golds in 25 backstroke, 25 freestyle, 50 freestyle and 4x25 relay; Clayton Mark Gahley Jenson, bronze basketball team; Dawn Jorgenson, silvers in 15 walk and 25 floatation and fourth in 15 unassisted; Rocky Keka, silver basketball team; Dona Lee Kessler, golds in 25 butterfly, 50 backstroke, 50 freestyle and 4x25 free relay; Aaron Kulhanek, bronze in unified basketball team; John Martin, bronze basketball team; Ben McGinty, bronze, unified basketball team; Robbie Morrow, gold in 4x25 relay and bronze in 25 backstroke, 25 freestyle and 50 freestyle; Justin Muetz, bronze, basketball team; Nicholas Nickoli, gold in 4x25 relay and silvers in 25 backstroke, 25 freestyle and 50 freestyle; Steven Nickoli, golds in 25 backstroke, 25 freestyle, 50 freestyle and 4x25 freestyle; Zachary Pennington, gold in 4x25 free relay, silver in 25 backstroke, bronze in 25 freestyle and fifth in 50 freestyle; Drew Pierskalla, bronze in unified basketball team; Erica Pletting, gold in 25 freestyle, silver in 50 freestyle and bronze in 25 backstroke; Joseph Pratt, bronze in unified basketball team; Mary Prevost, gold in 25 breaststroke, bronze in 25 freestyle and fifth in 25 backstroke; Raquel Kena Pugh, gold in 25 butterfly and 4x25 relay, bronze in 50 freestyle and 25 butterfly; Tom Rayevich, bronze in unified basketball team; Cynthia Ream, bronze in 25 freestyle, fourth in 50 freestyle and fifth in 25 backstroke; Frank Ross III, silver in basketball team; Tonya Saunders, gold in 50 freestyle and 4x25 free relay, silver in 25 freestyle and fourth in 25 backstroke; Christopher Sawyer, silver in basketball team; Shiranda Schmoll, bronze in basketball team; Tom Schulling, silver in 25 backstroke and 25 freestyle, fifth in 50 backstroke; Ken Sisson, bronze in unified basketball team; Joshua Smith, bronze in unified basketball team; Paul Standen, gold in 50 dash, silver in 100 walk and shot put, bronze in run long jump; Steve Standen, bronze in unified basketball team; Joshua Tenderholt, bronze in unified basketball team; Dawn Van Asdoll, golds in 50 dash, 100 run, 400 run, run long jump and softball throw; Bill Weatherby, silver in basketball team; Alicia Webb, bronze in unified basketball team; Anthony Willette, gold in 15 unassisted and 15 walk and silver in 25 floatation.

Note: All numbers indicating distances are in meters.