Athletes from Transylvania and SOKY Team Up For Fifth Year

Six SOKY athletes and six Unified partners from Transylvania University traveled to Indianapolis on April 7 to take part in the Fifth Annual Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Unified Bowling Tournament. Athletes Andrew Browning, Kenneth James, Corey Owens, Casie Seifert, Julia Steinman and Jeremy Thompson teamed with partners Ally Benz, Sloan Cromwell, Kori Rudolph, Chris Schaefer, Dominique Turner and Devin Twenty combined to take the overall bronze medal in the event behind Mt. St. Joseph and Bluffton. It was Mt. St. Joseph’s second overall title.

The tournament was a handicap format with four-person teams. The teams were divided into flights and each school’s two best team scores were added for the overall score.

In addition to the overall third place finish, each of the Transylvania teams placed third in their respective divisions. James and Browning teamed with Schaefer and Benz to roll a three-game total 2,356 behind Schaefer’s 706 series to finish third. Seifert and Owens partnered with Turner and Twenty for a 2,597 final score and bronze medal in the second division. Turner rolled a 723 series – the best among the Transy teams – and Seifert added a 608. The foursome finished just 33 pins out of the silver medal and only 39 pins from gold. Steinman and Thompson combined with Cromwell and Rudolph for a 2,494. That group was just 19 pins out of the silver medal and 57 from gold. Thompson, who was an all-conference performer a year ago rolled the high series among Transy Special Olympics athletes with a 627.

Schaefer and Turner both earned all-conference honors this year for finishing among the event’s top 10 bowlers.

The HCAC Bowling Tournament has grown out of the national Special Olympics-NCAA Division III partnership that encourages Division III NCAA-member schools to get involved with their local Special Olympics programs.