Swimmers Dominate Relay, Dineen Weaves Some Bocce Magic
Wednesday was a big day at the pool for Kentucky swimmers, especially for Crestwood’s Justin Hale.
Early in the morning session the Team Kentucky 4×50-yard medley relay team of Hale, Union Swimmer Maddie Brinkman, Carmen Widener of Florence and Taylorsville’s Carson Chaney did what everyone expected after preliminaries and that is turn in a dominant, gold-medal performance. As they did in the prelim, Team Kentucky trailed when Chaney hit the pool for the final freestyle leg, but Chaney turned in an incredible final 50 meters to pull Team Kentucky to a time of 2:35.25, winning the race by more than seven seconds.
It was the second 4×50 medley relay gold in as many USA Games for Kentucky which also won the event in 2022 in Orlando. Hale was also part of that team.
The relay wasn’t Hale’s last gold of the day. He also topped the podium in the 200-yard individual medley on Wednesday, finishing in a time of 2:50.83. Hale actually touched the wall in second place, but the original winner was disqualified. Hale will leave Minneapolis having swept his three events. He also grabbed a gold medal in 50-yard butterfly on Tuesday.
In other action at the pool on Wednesday, Carmen Widener swam the 100-yard breaststroke preliminary, finishing in 1:42.26, good for second in her heat.
Bocce produced one of the great stories of the day. Paint Lick’s Megan Dineen, who won a silver medal competing alongside her mom in Tuesday’s Unified doubles bocce competition came up big again. After going 0-3 in pool play in the singles event, Dineen produced one of the all-time great comebacks in the bronze medal game. Dineen trailed Tennessee’s Grace Phillips 10-0 before scoring 11 of the next 12 points to force a sudden death frame. The scoreboard will show that Dineen scored one point and won 12-11, but she actually threw a four-point bocce, her third of the comeback.
The University of Louisville-based Unified basketball team cruised into the medal round with a convincing 46-14 victory over Minnesota. Team Kentucky had a number of outstanding performers in the game, but Amos Luckett of Springfield really set the pace early. Luckett had three steals and a basket in the game’s first seven minutes.
It was a busy day at the track for Team Kentucky with all four athletes competing for the first time at the meet. Shelbyville’s Miguel Mendoza and Murray’s Damion Frost both had their first medal opportunity of the Games, Mendoza in the shot put final and Frost in the running long jump final. Mendoza had a long throw of 7.27 meters to finish in fifth place, just .34 out of a bronze medal. Frost jumped 4.41 meters to place sixth in his division, .32 meters out of the bronze medal slot.
Kentucky bowlers had a much better day on Wednesday. Unfortunately, we still don’t know how good.
Shane Stull of Richmond teamed up with Dillon Meador of Rockfield to roll a 942 series. Stull’s 370 was 28 pins better than his singles score on Monday. Meador had a great day, bowling a 556 series that included two games in the 200s. It was an improvement of 110 pins over his singles score on Tuesday. Stull added a 370 series, which was 28 pins better than his singles score.
Lexington’s Janna Ghibaudy paired with Louisville’s Katy King for a 687 total series. Ghibaudy rolled a 365 series on Wednesday. King added a 322 series.
Due to a technical issue, it is still not officially clear what place either of them took in the event. But we think it’s pretty good. We’ll announce those results once we get them today.
Also on Wednesday, all four bowlers received the awards they earned in Tuesday’s singles competition.
Frost especially had a grueling competition day. His long jump final came immediately after he and Mendoza had teamed with Murray’s Kaylen Toews and Louisville’s Sydney Graf for the 4×100 meter preliminary. Team Kentucky finished that in 1:09.77, third in their heat. After the long jump he went directly to his 800 meter prelim. Frost ran that in 2:59.24, good for third in his heat.
Toews and Graf both had additional preliminaries as well. Toews also ran the 200-meter prelim, finishing in 39.02. Graf ran the 200-meter preliminary, finishing 8th in her heat in a time of 45.89 seconds.
Team Kentucky’s Owensboro-based flag football team at the Special Olympics USA Games left the dorms Wednesday excited for their semi-final matchup against a really good Indiana team on Wednesday. That excitement faded quickly as Indiana jumped on Kentucky early, stretching out a 20-point lead before Kentucky could answer. Indiana went on to win 49-12. Hunter Glenn threw two touchdown passes in the game, one each to Walt Drake and Zach Lindsey.
Ft. Mitchell golfer Chris Revay led the way for Team Kentucky as the golfers started the competition rounds of their three-round events. Revay carded a 50 to lead his 9-hole individual stroke play flight by two strokes over Maine’s Ivan Sheloske.
The Unified pair of Troy Pickens and James Cheely of Glasgow shot their best round of the week so far, posting a 57, good for second in their flight of the Unified 9-hole alternate shot event.
Lexington’s Wake Mullins had a little bit of a tough day at Victory Links Golf Course in the opening round of his 18-individual stroke play competition. Mullins carded a 92, which still leaves him second in his flight and within range of a gold medal.
Tomorrow at the USA Games
Our flag football team will play for the bronze medal against Pennsylvania. These teams faced off on Monday in an epic battle that saw Kentucky fall behind early but battle back to nearly tie the game, but they couldn’t get over the hump and Pennsylvania held on to win by 1.
Carmen Widener will swim the 100-yard breaststroke final looking for her first individual medal of the games. She will also swim her 100-yard individual medley prelim. Also at the pool, Maddie Brinkman and Carson Chaney will swim the 100-yard freestyle preliminary. All of those races can be seen live streaming on ESPN+.
Team Kentucky Unified basketball will tip off the medal round with a semi-final game against Colorado, a team that Kentucky beat earlier in the Tournament.
It’s another big day at the track. Miguel Mendoza and Sydney Graf will both run the 100-meter final. Damion Frost will have his 800-meter final and Kaylen Toews will jump in the running long jump final. Track and field events can also be seen streaming live on ESPN+.
Team Kentucky’s bowlers will all join up to compete in the team event.
Brett Thompson, who had an off day yesterday, will return to okay competing in bocce singles.
And the Kentucky golfers will all play round two at Victory Golf Links.
For more information about Team Kentucky and our participation at the USA Games, contact Mark Buerger at mbuerger@soky.org or 502-695-8222.