MCHS Unified Track Wins Sectionals
Third IHSAA Unified Track and Field State Championship
Inclusive initiative pairs athletes with and without disabilities to compete in sanctioned state championship.
The third annual IHSAA Unified Track and Field Championship will take place Saturday, June 4 at Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex, Indiana University. The opening ceremony is at 12:45 p.m. followed by field events at 1 p.m. and track beginning at 1:30 p.m.
The event is the result of a partnership between the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) and Special Olympics Indiana known as Champions Together. This led to the sanctioning of Unified Track and Field as the 21st IHSAA sport and the first championship, won by Warsaw High School. Last year’s championship was captured by Lafayette Jefferson High School. The vision of the Champions Together Unified Sports® project is to allow high school students both with and without intellectual disabilities the opportunity to represent their high schools in an IHSAA sanctioned activity that provides a quality experience of sports training and competition.
Competitions are judged and scored within heats and flights determined by prior performances. Each heat and flight scores the same number of points and every participant scores points for their team. Based on the philosophy of Unified Sports® there are no individual awards for Unified Track and Field. The only awards given are team awards earned by the contributions of all team members.
You can follow Champions Together and Unified Sports® on Twitter (@ChampsTogether), Facebook and Instagram (@ChampionsTogether).
This year, more than 70 teams participated in Unified Track with the top two teams from each of the six Unified Track and Field Sectionals advancing to the State Finals. High schools competing in the 2016 Unified Track and Field State Championship include: Crown Point (Lake), Elkhart Central (Elkhart County), Fishers (Hamilton), Edgewood High School (Monroe), Franklin County High School (Franklin), Jeffersonville High School (Clark), Michigan City (LaPorte), Noblesville (Hamilton), Terre Haute North Vigo (Vigo), Perry Meridian (Marion), Vincennes Lincoln High School (Knox), and Warsaw High School (Kosciusko County).
About Champions Together
Champions Together was established in December, 2012 as the partnership between the Indiana High School Athletic Association and Special Olympics Indiana. The partnership provides an award banner to all member schools that meet minimum requirements in the areas of 1) student-led servant leadership, 2) awareness, respect and inclusion as it relates to all individuals with intellectual disabilities, 3) Unified Sports® and 4) fundraising to promote the vision and programs of Special Olympics Indiana and the Champions Together partnership. Special Olympics International is supporting Champions Together as a model program to activate schools through “Project Unify” which also has the endorsement of the National Federation of High Schools. For more information on Champions Together, contact Lee Lonzo, LLonzo@ihsaa.org.
About the Indiana High School Athletic
Association, Inc. (IHSAA)
Founded in 1903, the
purpose of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc. (IHSAA) is to
encourage, regulate and give direction to wholesome amateur interschool
athletic competition between its 412 member schools. The Association provides
state championship tournament series in 20 sports, 10 for girls and 10 for
boys. Approximately 160,000 student athletes participate in IHSAA sports on an
annual basis. For more information about the IHSAA, call (317) 846-6601 or
visit www.ihsaa.org.
About Special
Olympics Indiana, Inc. (SOIN)
Special Olympics Indiana is a
not-for-profit organization that provides year-round sports more than 12,000
athletes across Indiana. The organization receives no federal- or
state-appropriated funds, is not a United Way agency and relies entirely on
corporate, civic and individual donations. For more information about Special
Olympics Indiana, call (317) 328-2000 or visit www.soindiana.org.