As unified bowling moves into postseason competition, Wayne High will send a team to state after being crowned district champs.
From Wildcat Lanes in Wayne, a total of eight NSAA unified teams made up the B-4 District on Monday.
Wayne Unified combined for a 785 total score to defeat runner-up Osmond who finished with a 682.
Other results came from Blair in third (649), Omaha Nation took fourth (644), Winnebago placed fifth (629), West Point-Beemer came in sixth (546) and Randolph rounded out the top seven scoring (483). No score was posted by Bloomfield.
Blue Devil Unified bowling team members include Hannah Davis, Gavin Redden, Sammi Gubbels, Payton Junck and Graycen Trautman.
Maggie Gubbels took over as the Unified Bowling team head coach. Gubbels has been in Special Education at Wayne Community Schools for three years and recently switched programs from Resource into the Life Skills classroom.
Maggie Gubbels highlighted the team make-up.
“We have to have one ‘athlete’ on the team and an ‘athlete’ is an individual who has an intellectual disability,” said Maggie Gubbels. “Then the other members of the team are ‘partners’ which are students who do not have a disability who just kind of work with the student with a disability and give them some opportunities.”
Wayne Unified Bowling was made up of a 22-member team as during district competition, only one team was able to be entered.
Hannah Davis bowled well and got the team started by knocking down some pins while the other partners followed working together as a team.
“The crowd was amazing,” Maggie Gubbels added. “We had a huge cheering section. We had parents and fans. We had some students who are on other Unified bowling teams for Wayne come and make signs. I think the crowd really helped kind of build the spirit that we needed to win.”
Wayne Unified Bowling began their season on Nov. 2 with a home triangular where all five Wayne teams were in action along with invites in Norfolk (Nov. 9), Wayne (Nov. 19) and Sioux City, Iowa (Nov. 26) where two teams were in action.
With majority of the team in multiple winter sports and activities, the teams will look to squeeze a practice in to work on the basic fundamentals.
Maggie Gubbels mentioned the biggest skill Wayne Unified bowling works on is being a good teammate.
“Being there for students who don’t get the opportunities that they usually get,” Maggie Gubbels mentioned, “So, a lot of our work isn’t necessarily about bowling but it’s just building that school culture of inclusion.”
Again, Wayne Unified Bowling would like to thank all of the support from the community.
The remaining NSAA Unified Bowling District competition for Class A/B will be Tuesday and Wednesday for District action. The 2024 NSAA Unified Bowling State Championships are scheduled for Monday, Dec. 9 at Sun Valley Lanes & Games in Lincoln.
The team included Jake Barner, Shayanne Beatty, Hannah Davis, Maggie Fields, Lily Gubbels, Sammi Gubbels, Rylin Hall, Ben Haschke, Caylie Hopkins, Lilyan Hurner, Payton Junck, Alivia Kesting, Haley Kramer, Alexis Legler, Xander Maxwell, Reagan McGuire, Lindsay Niemann, Gavin Redden, Mallory Redden, Matt Robbins, Jack Rutenbeck and Graycen Trautman.
