Bocce Team Makes History, All Come Back as Medal Winners
He’s a quiet guy, so it makes sense that the history he’s made as part of Team Kentucky at the Special Olympics USA Games has been quiet as well. But make no mistake, Rockport’s Brett Thompson, along with his father and Unified partner Jeff, is definitely a Team Kentucky history maker. In 2018 Brett and Jeff competed in Seattle as the first ever Unified bocce athletes to represent the state at the USA Games, claiming a silver medal. Returning to the Games again in 2026, they went one better. The pair went 2-1 in their pool play matches, with their only loss coming 8-5 at the hands of a Tennessee team. It was good enough to send the Thompsons to the gold medal-match and rematch to avenge their one loss. Tied 1-1 after two frames, Brett made a pair of great shots to give Kentucky a 4-1 lead, and they never looked back from there, cruising to an 11-3 win and the first Unified bocce gold medal in Team Kentucky history.
It sparked a fully historic run for the Kentucky bocce delegation which included the daughter-mother Unified pair Megan and Lesley Dineen from Paint Lick. The Dineens almost claimed that first Kentucky Unified gold. They also advanced to their division’s gold medal-match, but fell in sudden death to grab the silver medal. The next day Megan returned to compete in singles and produce one of the great stories from the 2026 Games. After going 0-3 in her pool play matches, Megan found herself in the bronze-medal match where she fell behind early…and big. Facing a 10-0 deficit, Megan’s parents removed a band-aid from her throwing hand that she hadn’t had the day before. Megan responded with a bocce, three points and another bocce, scoring 11 of the last 12 points to force sudden death. In the extra frame, she threw ANOTHER bocce to claim her only victory of the singles event and the bronze medal.
Bocce would add two more medals at this Games. Brett claimed another gold in the singles event, which was only the second singles gold for Team Kentucky bocce since the sport was added to the USA Games in 2014. Then all four members of the team joined to become the first from Kentucky to compete in the Unified four-person team event, where they took the bronze.
It was the first time that Kentucky had medaled in every bocce event it competed in at the USA Games.
Another great story came from the pool where Crestwood’s Justin Hale captured three gold medals at the Games, sweeping his events. He got started on the second competition day of the Games when he powered his way to a win in the 50-yard butterfly. His :32.62 won his division by almost two full seconds. He closed out his meet with gold in the 200-yard Individual Medley, touching in a time of 2:52.83. In between those two races, he helped Team Kentucky win a relay for the ages.
Kentucky had been the talk of the 4×50-yard Medley Relay since the preliminaries, where they had shaved seven seconds off their previous best time with the help of a phenomenal final freestyle leg by Carson Chaney from Taylorsville. It was more of the same in the final. Union’s Maddie Brinkman took the opening backstroke leg, Carmen Widener of Burlington followed with the breaststroke, Hale came back with the butterfly and Chaney flew through the freestyle to get Kentucky home in 2:35. 25, more than seven seconds ahead of Indiana, who took the silver. It was the second consecutive relay gold for Team Kentucky swimming.
The gold medal sweep made Hale the first Team Kentucky swimmer to win gold in all of their events since Kyle Gathof pulled it off at the first USA Games in 2006.
Brinkman also won three medals at the meet, and was incredibly close to claiming Kentucky’s first swimming gold. Before Hale’s butterfly, Brinkman swam her 100-yard backstroke final. Leading as they reached the five-yard marker, Brinkman just barely got nipped at the wall. Her 1:33.74 was just a tenth of a second behind Minnesota’s Sydney Sexton. Brinkman added a bronze on the last day of the Games in the 100-yard freestyle. The bronze medal gave Brinkman six total USA Games medals, counting her 2022 appearance and a medal in every event in which she has competed at the USA Games.
See Photos from the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games
Chaney, who swam the two massive freestyle relay legs, also narrowly missed an individual gold in the 100-yard backstroke. Chaney swam a personal best of 1:27.41 in his final but was edged out by .2 seconds by Peyton Jones of New Jersey. Chaney added a fifth-place finish in his 100-yard freestyle division.
Widener was the final Kentucky swimmer to have a chance at an individual medal at the Games, but she made the most of it in her 100-yard breaststroke final. She came home in 1:41.85 to grab a silver medal. She added a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard Individual Medley.
The second University of Louisville-based Unified Basketball to compete at the USA Games returned with one mission: to claim a medal this time around after a fourth-place finish in Orlando in 2022. Eric Piernas, a leader on that 2022 team went to Minneapolis as the Unified basketball head coach this time around, and Cory Pitsenberger – who scored the first ever Team Kentucky Unified basketball point four years ago was the lone holdover player. The team opened with a hard-fought 40-27 loss to a tough Texas team in a game that Kentucky led at halftime. Kentucky won its remaining two pool play games over Colorado and Minnesota and followed that with a semifinal win in a rematch with Colorado to guarantee that their mission would be accomplished. The only question was would it be a silver medal, or could it be gold. What stood between them and that gold was that same Texas team. The game was a battle throughout and Kentucky had two shots to tie it as time ran down, but couldn’t get one to fall. Texas took the gold medal 30-27, but Kentucky accomplished its goal and did it in a way that earned the respect of everyone who watched them play. Unified partners Jeremy Mercer and Eli Just provided great leadership and several athletes turned in great performances, including Gary Garrett, Aiden Heckel, Daniel Hewitt and Amos Luckett.
While most of USA Games week was beautiful in Minneapolis, a huge storm blew up on Tuesday that kept many golfers from finishing what should have been their first competition round of the Games. The storm made not just the day, but much of the golf competition uncertain, to the point that when the final round ended on Thursday, nobody seemed sure where they had finished. When the uncertainty lifted, all four Kentucky golfers had earned a medal and one of them was gold.
The Unified pair of Troy Pickens and James Cheely from Glasgow produced a four-round total of 238 in the 9-Hole Unified Alternate Shot event to claim Kentucky’s first golf gold medal since 2010. Their total included a low round of 54 in the final round to help cement their six-shot victory.
Ft. Mitchell’s Chris Revay returned to the USA Games for the first time since the first Games in Iowa where he claimed a fourth-place finish. He lost one round to the storm and shot a three-day total of 151 to go home with a silver medal.
Wake Mullins of Lexington, playing in his third USA Games, but his first in an Individual Stroke Play event, also grabbed a silver medal. Like Revay he lost a round to the storm and bracketed an opening round 84 and a closing 85 around a 92 to finish with a total of 261. He finished 11 shots back of North Carolina’s Zachary Duncan.
Team Kentucky swimmers weren’t the only ones to win gold in a thrilling relay. Team Kentucky track athletes Damion Frost from Murray, Sydney Graf from Louisville, Miguel Mendoza of Shelbyville and Kaylen Toews from Murray put on a show of their own in the 4×100-meter relay final. Mendoza ran a solid first leg before handing the baton to Toews. Toews edged into the lead in the second leg before giving way to Graf. Graf did an excellent job of holding ground and keeping Kentucky in a position to win, then it was Damion Frost running a blistering anchor leg to blow by Rhode Island early and pull away for the win in a time of 1:07.12. Like the swimmers, it was the second straight relay gold for Team Kentucky and the race guaranteed that every Kentucky athlete would return from the Games with a medal.
In addition to the relay gold, Frost, Graf and Mendoza also claimed individual medals. Graf grabbed a silver in the 100-meter dash in one of the best races of the Games. Graf was in a photo finish with Bryanna Spone of Oklahoma, but Spone edged her at the line by just .04 seconds. Graf finished ahead of Vermont’s Hazel Rakowksi by less than. .5 seconds. Mendoza was also in an incredibly tight 100-meter heat. First through fourth in his race was separated by just .45 seconds. Mendoza got to the finish in :15.88 to take the bronze by just .03 seconds over Shaun Perez of Rhode Island. The wildest finish of the day though may have been in Frost’s heat of the 800 meters. Frost led coming out of the final turn, but the final 50 meters became a wild fight for the lead between him, Alaska’s Reuben Hall and Qori Nelson from Michigan. At the line the entire group was within 1.4 seconds of each other, but Hall and Nelson snuck just ahead, and Frost grabbed the bronze in a time of 2:35.79.
To add to their medals, Graf posted a 6th place finish in the 200 meters in a time of :44.66, Mendoza placed fifth in his division of the shot put with a long throw of 7.27 meters and Frost claimed sixth place in his running long jump division with a long of 4.41 meters. Kaylen Toews grabbed a fifth-place ribbon in the 200 meters in a time of :39.43 and eighth place in the running long jump at 2.54 meters.
One of the gutsiest performances of the USA Games came from the Owensboro-based Team Kentucky flag football team. They opened play splitting a pair of what were to be three pool play games, beating Virginia 39-6 and then after trailing Pennsylvania by as much as 20 ended up losing a thriller to the Keystone Staters 46-45. Unfortunately, the same storm that affected the golfers forced the cancellation of Kentucky’s final pool play game. When the medal round brackets were announced, Kentucky was moved up a bracket and would face an Indiana team that had clobbered its three pool play opponents by a combined score of 113-30. Indiana scored twice early in the semifinal and, unlike against Pennsylvania, Kentucky couldn’t find its footing, falling 49-12 to head to a bronze-medal rematch with Pennsylvania.
Despite their disappointment in not playing for gold, Team Kentucky came out strong in the bronze-medal game, taking the lead early and never looking back to make the most of their medal opportunity. Hunter Glenn threw for one touchdown in the game to his brother Caden and Kentucky ran for five scores – including two by Kevin Rates. Rates also grabbed an interception in the game.
Team Kentucky bowlers had a great bounce back performance of their own. After opening the Games with only one medal in singles play, Kentucky bowlers returned to the lanes and earned medals in all of their remaining events.
Richmond’s Shane Stull claimed the lone singles medal, rolling a 362 series to win bronze. Stull was just two pins out of the silver medal, but only one pin ahead of fourth place. Dillon Meador of Rockfield was fourth in his singles division with a 442 series. Louisville’s Katy King was fifth in her division of women’s singles after rolling a 332. And Janna Ghibaudy of Lexington posted a 377 to finish sixth in her division.
In the next day’s doubles event Meador added 114 pins to his singles score, rolling a 556 series to pair with Shane Stull’s 370 to win the only bowling gold medal of the Games for Kentucky. Ghibaudy and King also grabbed a doubles medal with Ghibaudy rolling a 365 series and King 322 to win a silver medal with a 687 combined series.
Team Kentucky closed out with a bronze in the four-person team event. Meador had another great day with a 550 series that included a 218 game. Stull matched his 370 total from the doubles round and Ghibaudy and King rolled their best scores of the Games with a 405 and a 348, respectively to finish with a 1627 total. Kentucky was only 42 pins behind the gold medalists from Iowa.
Kentucky gymnasts once again won the first and the most medals for Team Kentucky, and once again it was Russellville’s Lee Dockins leading the way.
Gymnasts were the only Kentucky athletes with medal opportunities on the first competition day of the Games with all three taking part in the All-Around competition.
Racheal Conner, of Versailles had the distinction of being Team Kentucky’s first medalist of the Games when she won silver in her all-around division. Conner posted a score of 73.3. It was her second all-around medal in as many trips to the USA Games. It was all gold in the afternoon session for Team Kentucky as Dockins won the Level 3 Senior Division gold medal and Aliya White of Paris claimed gold in the Level 3 Junior Division. Dockins once again won her division by almost five full points with a score of 75.1. It was the third consecutive all-around gold for Dockins and brought her all-time USA Games medal count to 21. White’s 72.6 won her division by three points. It was White’s second consecutive all-around gold and third all-around medal in three USA Games trips. It also brought her career USA Games medal account to 10.
On the second and final day of gymnastics competition, the medals came fast and furious as all three Team Kentucky gymnasts competed in their event finals. Conner was first to compete again, winning silver in the vault and beam and bronze in the floor exercise. She added a fourth-place in the uneven bars. Conner’s division was so competitive that her silver in the vault came with a score of 19.42. In the afternoon session, White claimed event final golds in the beam, bars and vault, and added a silver in the floor exercise. Her balance beam routine scored an impressive 19.28 points. White now has 14 career USA Games medals, eight of which are gold. But it was Dockins who once again shone the brightest, taking all four gold medals for her second consecutive USA Games gold medal sweep and third overall, counting the 2023 World Summer Games. Dockins’ four-event total of 75.23 was .13 better than her all-around score the day before. She scored 19 or better in the vault and bars and added an 18.93 in beam. The haul leaves Dockins with 25 USA Games medals to go with her 22 World Games medals.
Team Kentucky truly had an incredible week in Minneapolis, from our departure in Louisville and arrival in Minneapolis all the way to our return home. Beyond sports, we had the opportunity to enjoy an incredible opening ceremony featuring Olivia Rodrigo and Jon Batiste as well as watching past SOKY athlete Marlana VanHoose sing the opening ceremony National Anthem. The team got to attend a Minnesota Twins games, and athletes enjoyed a week’s worth of meeting athletes from other states and, of course, trading pins.
Our thanks to everyone who helped make our trip possible – our sponsors, The Justin Thomas Foundation, Parco Constructors and Wawa; our friend Blake Harris and BSN Sports who helped us craft Team Kentucky’s new look, which was so well received everywhere we went; Miller Transportation which donated their services to make our early morning trip to the airport easier; the team at Southwest Airlines both in Louisville and Minneapolis who made our departures and returns in both cities feel like major celebrations.; and to all the families and fans who supported our efforts both with us in Minneapolis and with us in spirit from back home. We appreciate you all so much.
Mark your Calendars now for the next Special Olympics USA Games are scheduled for 2030 in Cleveland, Ohio.
For more information about Team Kentucky or our participation in the USA Games, contact Mark Buerger at 502-695-8222 or mbuerger@soky.org.