Flag Football Bounces Back for Bronze, Unified Basketball Advances to Gold Medal Game
The penultimate day of competition at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games was a big one for Team Kentucky’s Owensboro-based flag football team and University of Louisville-based Unified Basketball team.
Flag football team rebounded from a tough semi-final loss to turn in a gritty performance and knock off Pennsylvania 39-24 to claim the bronze medal. It was the same Pennsylvania team that beat Kentucky in a thriller earlier in the week during pool play. Hunter Glenn threw one more touchdown pass to his brother Caden, and Zach Lindsey, Walt Drake, Kevin Rates and Isaiah Smith each rushed for a touchdown. Kevin Rates added an interception.
The Unified Basketball team advanced to the gold medal game with a 26-23 win over Colorado in today’s semifinals. Jeremy Mercer led the way for Kentucky with 15 points. It was the second victory of the week against Colorado. Team Kentucky also knocked off the Rocky Mountain State in pool play on Tuesday.
At the track Team Kentucky grabbed three medals in four opportunities on Thursday.
Louisville’s Sydney Graf claimed a silver in the 100 meters. She missed a gold medal by the narrowest of margins, getting clipped in a photo finish by Oklahoma’s Bryana Spone. Graf’s :20.27 was a mere .04 seconds out of the gold medal slot.
Miguel Mendoza of Shelbyville shaved almost a half second off of his preliminary time to finish in :15.88 to take the bronze in a VERY close heat. Mendoza was just .03 ahead of fourth place finisher Shaun Perez of Rhode Island and he was also just .14 seconds behind silver medalist Benjamin Carr of Idaho.
Damion Frost claimed the first medal for a Murray athlete at the Games, Taking bronze in the 800 meters. Frost put himself in solid position over the first lap and a half, then ran an incredible final curve to take the lead near the top of the stretch. He tried to hold off Alaska’s Ruben Hall and Michigan’s Qori Nelson, but they nipped him right at the line. Frost’s 2:35.79 was less than a half second out of silver.
Kaylen Toews, also from Murray, competed in the running long jump final. She placed eighth in her division with a leap of 2.54 meters.
The pool produced yet another medal for Team Kentucky. Carmen Widener of Burlington won her second medal of the Games on Thursday. Widener swam 1:41.85 in her heat of the 100-yard breaststroke to take home the silver medal. She was part of the Team Kentucky 4×50-yard medley relay team that won a gold medal on Wednesday.
In non-final action Union’s Maddie Brinkman and Carson Chaney of Taylorsville both swam preliminaries for the 100-yard freestyle. Brinkman’s time of 1:14.37 set a new personal record by three seconds and placed her third in her qualifying heat. Chaney shaved five seconds off his personal best to touch in 1:11.17 and place fourth in his heat.
Brett Thompson officially made this the most successful USA Games bocce competition in Team Kentucky history, but it wasn’t without drama. After going 2-1 comfortably in pool play, he found himself down late in the gold medal bocce match against Northern California’s Anthony Puma, who had beaten Thompson 11-9 in the final pool play match. Thompson trailed 9-8 with time running out, but rolled a bocce in the final frame to claim the gold 12-9. It was the second gold medal of the Games for Thompson who paired with his dad Jeff to win Kentucky’s first-ever Unified bocce gold medal on Tuesday. It was the fourth overall bocce medal for Team Kentucky.
Team Kentucky’s bowlers all had to feel like they got two awards for the price of one on Thursday. A technical glitch delayed the ability to release division and placement results for Wednesday’s doubles competition. When the results finally came in, it was all good news for Team Kentucky. Dillon Meador of Rockfield and Richmond’s Shane Stull learned that they were doubles gold medalists. Katy King of Louisville and partner Janna Ghibaudy of Lexington learned that they had won a silver.
On Thursday, all four bowlers came together for the team event, taking bronze in their division with 1,627 total pins, just 18 behind the silver medalists from Nebraska. Meador led all bowlers with a 550 series that included a 218 game. Ghibaudy rolled a 405 series. Stull posed a 370 and King added a 348.
Today the golfers found themselves in the same situation the bowlers were in yesterday. Their competition is complete, but they aren’t sure yet about placements. The storm that blew through Minneapolis and scuttled the first round of the tournament continues to cause problems in the score reporting and placements. So Wake Mullins, Chris Revay and the Unified pair of Troy Pickens and James Cheely will have to wait to know where they placed.
Tomorrow at the USA Games
Friday is the final day of the USA Games.
Team Kentucky’s Unified basketball team will face off with Texas for the gold medal. The two teams met on the first competition day of the Games with Texas coming away victorious 40-27.
There will be a little more Team Kentucky history made on the bocce courts and Brett and Jeff Thompson will once again be in the middle of it. In 2018 they became the first Unified bocce team to represent Kentucky at the Games. On Tuesday they won the first USA Games Unified bocce gold medal in Team Kentucky history. Tomorrow they will join with Megan and Lesley Dineen to form the first ever Kentucky four-person Unified bocce team at the Games. Brett Thompson will be looking for a clean sweep of bocce golds after taking gold in both Unified doubles and singles. Megan Dineen will also be looking for her third medal after a silver in Unified doubles and a bronze in singles.
Kentucky swimmers will chase three more medals. Carmen Widener will swim the 100-yard individual medley final, and Maddie Brinkman and Carson Chaney will both swim the 100-yard freestyle final. Team Kentucky swimmers have the opportunity to produce the first Team Kentucky swim meet where every athlete medaled in every event they competed in.
There are also three medal opportunities at the track on Friday. Team Kentucky will run the 4×100 relay and Sydney Graf and Kaylen Toews will both run the 200-meter final.
When ALL the competition and awards are done, Team Kentucky will head to the closing ceremonies and closing dance.
Team Kentucky will return from the USA Games on Saturday, June 27. The team will return to Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International at 8 pm.
For more information about Team Kentucky or our participation in the USA Games, contact Mark Buerger at mbuerger@soky.org or 502-695-8222.