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WAVERLY, Iowa-- 150 Wartburg College student volunteers welcomed 100 Special Olympic participants for the 2014 Unified Sports Day, last Saturday.

The day started off in Levick Arena where the Special Olympics athletes who hail from northeast Iowa, were put into 18 different teams. Each team had a "team leader" and a handful of other volunteers. All volunteers were Wartburg students. Once split up into teams, the day kicked off with music and dancing on the gym floor (YMCA, Macarena, etc.)
 
Cailee Whitefield (Wartburg student from San Antonio, Texas) sang the National Anthem. A check for $1000 was presented to Special Olympics Iowa from the local Kiwanis Club.
 
From there, everyone moved to the field house. There were about 12 different activities for the athletes to participate in (bocce ball, parachute, soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, darts, bowling, hula hoop, crafts, bean bag toss and ladder golf). All participants were able to get their team picture taken to take home with them.
 
Everyone was then dismissed for lunch in the Hall of Champions and was served by the Kiwanis Club.
 
The day concluded with a basketball game in Levick Arena. Athletes were able to play with volunteers while Wartburg student, Avery Mason was the announcer of the game. Sir Victor (the Wartburg Knight) was present as well to cheer on the teams.

Closing ceremonies took place after that and all athletes were awarded with ribbons and each team leader spoke about the strengths of their team players.
 
The event was put together by Associate Athletic Director and head women's golf coach, Monica Severson, and the Unified Sports steering committee (members from Wartburg student body and SAAC) with assistance from assistant women's golf coach, Paige Klostermann, and head women's lacrosse coach, Danielle Fiala.

Tweets from Wartburg volunteers following the event:
Zach Hiller: What a great time with everyone at unified sports day!!
Alex Harmer: Had a great time at unified sports day and met some great people!
Christina Syhavong: Definitely doing Unified Sports every year. Absolutely loved this experience!