Clatsop County Special Olympians score more medals
· Yahoo Sports
Clatsop County Special Olympic athletes added to their growing medal collection last weekend in Corvallis at the Oregon Summer Games. The July 10 – 12 competition was the final stop on the 2026 Special Olympics summer schedule.
“Overall the athletes had a great time down in Corvallis,” Special Olympics Coordinator David McAloney said. “Our athletes competed really hard and seeing them come home with awards is a great thrill for the coaches and volunteers.”
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The track and field team took home seven gold medals, nine silver medals and one bronze. The bocce team brought home a gold, a silver, two bronze medals and a sportsmanship award. In addition, some of the athletes also placed in fourth and sixth places, all getting a winner’s spot on the podium.
The performances capped off a winning summer season for local Special Olympic athletes.
2011 Astoria High School graduate Brittney Clarke and 2018 Astoria graduate Jacob McCarr recently competed in the 2026 USA Games, which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota from June 20 to June 27. The USA Games are the National Championships of Special Olympics and they feature athletes from all 50 states. In total, the event featured 3,000 athletes. Clarke won gold in the 400 meter walk, and medaled in both the 4 x 100 meter relay and mini javelin. McCarr was also a member of the silver medal winning 4 x 100 relay team.
In Corvallis, Clatsop County’s representation was a big presence. The county sent 12 athletes to compete in the track and field portion and eight competed in bocce ball. McAloney highlighted the strength of his bocce team.
“We sent four partner teams of two and ended up getting a medal of each color,” he said. “We had one team get gold, one get silver and also received a sportsmanship award. This was big for us because one of our athletes struggles when she doesn’t get an award. We also had two teams take home bronze medals.”
The bocce team of Jesse Banks and Jerry Allen won gold, Jackie Bleech and Nikki Fletcher won silver plus the sportsmanship award. The teams of Ben Johnson/David Killion and Brandi Higgins/Angelica Lizarraga won bronze medals.
Though there were a lot of outstanding individual performances, said McAloney. But he said he was most proud of the growth shown by his athletes, and not only on the competition fields. This past weekend was the first time some of them had ever been on a bus or stayed in a dorm. Seeing athletes in his group handle that so well illustrated personal growth, he said.
“We asked a few of the athletes to get out of their comfort zone and try new things this year,” he said. “Seeing them ride the bus and stay in the dorms with us is great progress in their lives.”
In addition, there were more participants because of the addition of bocce ball to the games. McAloney said it brought out many more athletes who had never participated until this year.
“Half of the athletes on our bocce team went to the summer games for the first time,” he said. “Bocce had a 50% increase in athletes and we were able to bring half of those to the summer games,” he said. “We had 17 players at regionals — and took half of them to Corvallis.”
Track and field team stands out
The Clatsop County Special Olympics track and field team joined the bocce participants in the medal circle with a colorful performance.
Led by Mathias Costello, the track and field team took home a total of seven gold medals. Costello won gold in all three of his events. He took gold in the 100-meter manual wheelchair dash, in the 30-meter slalom and the wheelchair shot put. Other gold medalists included Nicholas Bailey in the 100-meter dash, Alex Cary in the 50-meter dash, Brittney Clarke in the 400-meter walk and Marie Kujala in the 800-meter walk.
Second place finishers included Cary in the softball throw; Blake Chick in both the 200-meter dash and 4 x 100-meter relay; Clarke in the 800-meter walk; and Jack Kain in the 400-meter walk and 4 x 100-meter relay. Other silver medalists included: Jonathan Lempea in the 4 x 100-meter relay; Beau Roth in both the mini javelin and 4 x 100-meter relay; and Megan Wilson in the 400-meter walk. Bailey wrapped things up with a bronze medal in the softball throw.
Other notable finishers were Joey Bailey who placed fourth in the softball throw and Cheyenne Valenzuela who was fourth in the shot put and also came in sixth place in the 200-meter dash.
Athletes get a break
After this weekend of competition the athletes will have about a month break until they resume competition. Next up will be the fall sports season which consists of soccer, bowling and swimming. The beginning of fall competition will coincide with the beginning of the high school sports season.
“Fall sports season will go from September to about mid-November,” McAloney said.”Then we will have about a month off before winter.”