Heller's Angels teams compete in state Special Olympics tourney

ATTLEBORO - Attleboro area Special Olympics team "Heller's Angels" competed in the state tournament for ten-pin bowling and basketball in the Worcester area March 11-12, reported coach Caron Heller.

Her report follows:

* Bowling: The bowling team, coached by Becky Dean and Andy Heller, competed at AMF Auburn Lanes. Gold medal winners: Becky Audette, Rosie Wolter, and Ryan Wilbur. Silver medal: Ian Anastasi, Camille Howe, Elizabeth Weaver, and James Laduke. Bronze medal: Jaklyn Saylors, Dylan Costa, Johnathan Davies, Fallon Dean, and James Renaud. Fourth-place winners: Carly Paras and Nick Hayward. Fifth-place winners: Jeanne Dore, Ricky Sousa, Stephen Balerna, and E'la Hall- Kelleher. Sixth-place winner: K'la Hall-Kelleher.

* Bobcats basketball: The Heller's Angels Bobcats basketball team for athletes over age 21, competed at Auburn High School. Athletes James Case, Jonathan Cuadrado, Nicholas DiPanfilo, Jacob Langley, Katelyn Phipps, Michael Rivera-Corretjer, Juan Rodriguez, Joseph Scales, Chelsea Siegfried, Johnathan Titus, Wendy Dennis, and Kyle Titus won a silver medal, coached by Cheryl Barrett and Adam Brodeur.

* Unified basketball team: The Heller's Angels Cougars unified basketball team for ages 16-22 competed at the Bancroft School in Worcester. A unified team is a combination of athletes and unified partners (general education peers). Ray Blais, Alyssa Cameron, Mark Dunshee, Susan Dunshee, Isabella Ferri, Jenna Gariepy, Justice Mitchell, Dylan Barrett, Hannah Gariepy, Bailey Oliveira, and Arianna Phipps earned a fourth-place ribbon, coached by Doug Dutra and Renee Gariepy.

* Other: In addition to competition, athletes enjoyed a delicious dinner at St. Georges, Worcester and danced the night away at Mechanics Hall in Worcester to the theme "Out of This World."

* Tigers team: The Heller's Angels Tigers unified basketball team for ages 8-15 competed on Sunday, March 5 at St. Mark's School in Southboro. Coached by Krissy Albuit and Dawn Houlker-Azar, athletes Ben Akell, Adam Brouillard, Jackson Egan, Emma Fleming, Joanna Mercier, Cody Nadeau, Jessica Phipps, Derek Shepardson, Donald Azar, Jillian Brouillard, Kaylan Dutra, and Madison Westgate won a silver medal.

* Looking ahead: Spring sports will start the week of March 27. Heller's Angels will compete in unified track and field, unified volleyball and swim. Anyone interested in participating or supporting the team can contact local coordinator, Caron Heller at caronheller@comcast.net or follow team at www.facebook.com/hellersangels/