Sports : V-S Special Olympians qualify seven for State in bowling debut

Morrigan Hubbard, Shelby Arp, and Dani Koopman of the V-S Special Olympics are all smiles.

John Larkin shows his ribbon

Morrigan Hubbard

Beau Vinton and Zachary Kramer hamming it up for the camera

John Larkin finishing his turn to bowl

Beau Vinton

Megan James and Brian pose for a quick photo

The Vinton-Shellsburg Special Olympics bowling team came home with 7 state qualifiers in their debut showing at the East Central Iowa Regional Special Olympics tournament.

Nearly 200 athletes and volunteers filled the Westdale Bowling Center in Cedar Rapids on Monday morning.

Team members Shelby Arp, Morrigan Hubbard, Danielle Koopman, Beau Vinton, Zach Kramer, Robert Hurst, and Jimmy Wolfe took home first place ribbons. Fifteen athletes from Vinton made the trip to Cedar Rapids. The state tournament will be held in November in Des Moines.

The team is coached by head coach Tammy Zimmerman and assistants Brian Larkin, Whitney Bowen and Kris Kramer.