The Seventh Annual Champions Together and Special Olympics Indiana Unified Bowling High School State Championship was held on March 15 th at Western Bowl in Indianapolis. Twenty-six teams from around the state competed for the High School Division and Open Division State Championships. The High School division comprises both Unified Partners and Unified Athletes whose students are currently attending the school which is eligible under IHSAA rules. The Open division consists of Unified Partners whose students are currently attending the school, which is eligible under IHSAA rules, but the Unified Athletes are involved in the local community program. Unified Bowling teams consist of 15 students participating in a coed team. This was the first year all teams were made up of coed instead of boys, girls, and coed. Each coed team was made up of five students including at least two students with intellectual disabilities (Unified Athlete) and at least two students without intellectual disabilities (Unified Partner). The fifth player for each team is the coach’s choice but must be either a Unified Athlete or a Unified Partner. Each team uses the “Baker” system for competition. Within the 5-person team, each team member shall bowl two (2) frames per game. For example, the first bowler shall bowl Frames 1 and 6, the second bowler shall bowl Frames 2 and 7, and so on. There were 41 teams that competed in the Unified Bowling Sectional Tournament with the chance to advance to the State Tournament. For the first time, South Ripley High School led all Sectional team scores with a 1918 in advancing to the State Championship. A total of 20 schools advanced to the High School Division Championship and six (6) advanced to the Open Division Championship. Indianapolis Cathedral rolled a State Championship high of 1994 over the five games to take the Unified Bowling High School Open Division State Championship. This is the first for the Irish and first-year head coach Br. Matt Rehagen. Coach Rehagen mentioned, “It was such a blessing to be able to help bring together such a great group of students from Cathedral High School and an amazing group of athletes from NE Marion County Special Olympics. The entire state tournament was an absolute joy to participate in. What an amazing culmination of the day for Cathedral to win our first-ever Unified State Championship.” Bishop Chatard finished Runner- Up with a 1493. Rounding out the Top 5 were Hamilton Heights – Open team, bowling 1403, DeKalb – Open (1260), Woodlan (1136) and Manchester (968).
