Gold medal effort.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - Any power lifter worth her weight belt knows form is critical, and Sandra Carrico showed hers Sunday after yanking 110 pounds off the floor as if it was a feather pillow.

After completing the lift, the 34-year-old Carrico mugged for the cameras with the classic double-biceps pose, the same one made famous by guys with names like Atlas and Ah-nold. "Good," Carrico said, grinning broadly. "I love it."

Carrico, of St. Helens, was among 750 athletes who arrived from around the state to compete over the weekend in the 2005 Special Olympics Oregon Winter Games State Championships for basketball and power lifting.

The athletes spent two months training in their home towns and reached the games only after qualifying at competitions in Beaverton and Roseburg.

They're among the 5,000 athletes statewide who participate in the 15 Olympic-style sports that Special Olympics Oregon holds year-round. Some will go on to national competition in 2006.

`It's so easy just to think, `Oh, this kid has mental retardation, I'm not going to see anything exciting here,' ' said Jan Hull, the organization's sports director. "Then they'll see an athlete bench press 300 pounds and see just how capable Special Olympians are."

The athletes have mental or physical disabilities, or both. Some function at such high levels that the disability is virtually unnoticeable; others need an encouraging word and a guiding hand to help them into position.

Power lifting was held at Thurston High School, where the background chatter of an excited crowd was repeatedly cut by passionate exhortations once a competitor started straining and groaning under the weight.

o"C'mon, Nick, push it! Push it! Push it!" Nona Harpold of Medford urged, as her 25-year-old son, Nick Ceglia, tried - but failed - to bench press 255 pounds. "Oh, OK, 245 was his high, then," she said.

Ceglia, who has cerebral palsy and mild retardation, couldn't walk until he was 5. He didn't start speaking coherently, Harpold said, until he was 12.

Now he lives on his own in Medford and is training for a job in a meat department. Ceglia has been a power lifter for eight years, growing stronger physically and mentally in an environment where those around him expect nothing less than his best.

"It gives them exposure to people who open up their world," Harpold said. "It challenges them to be more than what is normally expected of them."

Coach Chuck McFarland, 50, brought 15 power lifters from Jackson County, including his 29-year-old son, Chad, who has Williams syndrome, a learning disability.

Fifteen years as a coach of special athletes has taught McFarland that "you have to make it fun," he said. "You need to be their friend, but a coach at the same time."

Aside from the physical limitations of some special athletes, there is little difference between their training and that of athletes without disabilities, McFarland said. "if you don't teach 'em form, they don't get any strength. If you don't teach 'em technique, they get hurt."

Chad McFarland explained the differences between special athletes and other athletes even more succinctly.

"Sometimes they can keep up with us," he said, grinning. "And sometimes they can't."

CAPTION(S):

Sandra Carrico mugs for the cameras a la `Ah-nold' after competing in the Special Olympics state championships in Springfield on Sunday. A t h l e t i c s Sandra Carrico, 34, shows off her form as she muscles 110 pounds off the floor. "Good," Carrico said afterward of her effort. "I love it." Carrico was one of more than 750 athletes from around the state who competed in power lifting and basketball.