The Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) will make history this coming weekend as its ‘Champions Together’ partnership with Special Olympics Indiana (SOIN) holding the inaugural Unified Track and Field state championship in conjunction with the IHSAA boys’ and girls’ track and field state championships at Indiana University.

This championship meet follows sectional competition held at Terre Haute North and Warsaw High Schools where the top five scoring teams from each advance to state competition, with Noblesville High School (from the South Sectional) and West Lafayette High School (from the North Sectional) taking top honors. Other schools advancing from the North sectional include: Bremen, East Noble, Warsaw, and Munster; other schools advancing from the South Sectional include: Boonville, Edgewood, Mt. Vernon (Posey), and Plainfield.

These IHSAA-member schools formed teams composed equally of students with and without intellectual disabilities to compete for the state championship in Unified Track and Field.

This spring, schools individually scheduled regular season competitions that culminated with the IHSAA-recognized sectional and state championship. While the IHSAA provided the framework for the competition, including rules and officials, Special Olympics Indiana provided technical support to schools participating in Unified Track and Field, as well as financial grants to a number of schools to assist with startup costs.

According to IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox, “These Unified Track and Field events are a beginning step in the evolving culture of inclusion between the IHSAA and our partners at Special Olympics Indiana. It is a humbling opportunity to collaborate with one of our state’s most important organizations in the creation of an event that will certainly stand as a historic benchmark for both groups.”

Michael Furnish, Special Olympics Indiana president and CEO applauds the IHSAA for its leadership. “Including students with special needs in these interscholastic sports competitions is historic,” he says. “Decades after people eligible for Special Olympics were brought into public education, they now have new opportunities to bring their competitive spirit and positive attitude to contribute through sports to their schools.”

The Unified Track and Field state championship will be held June 7 at 1 p.m. The championship will consist of five events including 100-meter dash, 400-meter dash, 4×100-meter dash, shot put and long jump. Admission for this event will be $10 and also gains entry into the Indiana Boys’ Track and Field State Championship which begins at 3:30 p.m.

Unified Sports® enables persons with and without intellectual disabilities to participate on the same team for sports training and competition. Special Olympics Indiana is considered a world leader in the development of Unified Sports® programs, having conducted the first-ever pilot test in 1989, and since has developed an all-inclusive approach with Unified competition featured in virtually all represented sports.

The “Champions Together” partnership between the Indiana High School Athletic Association and Special Olympics Indiana was launched on December 17, 2012. The partnership evolved from IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox charging the IHSAA Student Advisory Committee (SAC) to engage in “servant leadership” and discover ways to give back to their schools and communities. The IHSAA SAC researched options and unanimously requested that an official partnership be formed with Special Olympics as the most appropriate fit, incorporating education-based athlete servant leadership. During the first six months of the partnership, the 18 members of the IHSAA SAC and their schools helped develop the goals now adopted by Champions Together.

The Champions Together partnership seeks to involve a minimum of 50 IHSAA member schools in the partnership. The partnership will provide a banner to all IHSAA 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) volunteerism through service to the school and community 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.