The Anderson University Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) captured first place in Sunday's Special Olympics Indiana Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Unified Bowling Championship on Sunday at Royal Pin Western in Indianapolis.

Special Olympics Indiana and the HCAC partner annually in a bowling tournament, which consists of Special Olympics Indiana athletes and SAAC members throughout the HCAC. Anderson SAAC continued its annual partnership with Special Olympics Madison County.

"The HCAC/SAAC event for Unified Bowling was an outstanding experience," Anderson SAAC Advisor/Head Volleyball Coach Tami Miller said. "Our AU athletes partnered with talented Madison County Special Olympians and brought home a championship. I'm so proud of the impact that all of the athletes had on each other. They learned how sports can impact all athletes from all levels of play."

"Unified bowling is one of my favorite things that I do," Anderson SAAC President/Men's Swimming & Diving Senior Noah Singleton said. "I love how our conference is partnered with Special Olympics to make this event possible. It's never about winning, but getting to know everyone, meeting new people, and having a lot of fun. This event is definitely something special and capping it off with a win makes this experience even better."

Each school fielded three teams of five and played five games using a baker's score format, which each player takes turns bowling a frame into one overall team game score. Each tournament team score is the sum of the five game scores. The sum of the three team scores makes up the school's overall tournament score.

Anderson University captured first with an overall score of 1,794. Bluffton University came in second with a score of 1,654, finishing ahead of Franklin College (1,511), Hanover College (1,507), Manchester University (1,432), Transylvania University (1,402), Berea College (1,390), Earlham College (1,342), Mount St. Joseph University (847) and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (546), which rounds out the field.

Anderson's Team 2 earned second-team all-conference honors after posting the second-highest team score of 657. The team was fielded by Hanna Smith, Chris McKee, Lacy Rathbun (Volleyball), Noah Singleton (Men's Swimming & Diving) and Jayda Lanham (Volleyball).

Team 3 of Anderson consisted of Tim Fisher, Jeffrey Asher, Luis Guerrero (Men's Tennis), Aden Daugherty (Men's Basketball) and Martin Suarez (Men's Tennis), which contributed a score of 633. Anderson's Team 1 was fielded by Jacob Short, Jordan Short, Janet Roundtree, Josiah Marshall (Men's Basketball) and Rob Davidson (Men's Basketball), which recorded a score of 504.

(Meet Results)

(Photos)