“Emotionally and physically, we take our challenges together.” Senior Brittney Mayfield’s simple definition of the Noblesville Unified Track and Field Team truly explains the heart of the team.

Through the Champions Together partnership between the Indiana High School Athletic Association and Special Olympics Indiana, Unified Track and Field held its inaugural season in the spring of 2014.

Noblesville High School was one of the 16 schools in the state to participate last year, thanks in part to current senior and Special Olympics athlete Mitch Bonar, who worked to develop Noblesville’s team with the Athletics Department.

“I’ve always wanted to run with my friends for Track, but I never had the chance [before],” Bonar said. In helping to create the team, he, “…wanted to make a difference for all my friends, as well for myself,”

Now the team, living up to its “Unified” name, has forged unity and togetherness among all the athletes, those with and those without disabilities.

“They practice together, they participate in the meets together, they sit on the bus together,” coach Maggie Perry said. “…everything is done together.”

“As a team, everyone is treated the same,” Mayfield said.

Though as a sports team they prepared for track meets and the physical contest they bring, the students gained an even greater reward than their first place sectionals finish.

“These kids are building relationships and friendships that extend outside of just the team,” Perry said, who co-head coaches with coach Andrew Skaggs.

“We are like a family,” Bonar said.

Mayfield, who thought she would gain only from helping the students, was surprised when she realized how much all of the teammates came together to support and motivate one another to work their hardest.

“We encourage each other to run and push ourselves farther than we thought possible,” Mayfield said. “We created a family connection.”

Their encouragement and bonding brought them together and all the way to state.

“We started out being just this group of people, and we ended up a team going to state,” Mayfield said. “When we got third, their happiness was what made me happy.”

“State was awesome,” said Bonar. “It was a great experience.”

The intensity of the competition on the track still pales in comparison to the undivided friendships and relationships the teammates built.

“My favorite part of the whole thing was on our bus ride to state,” Perry said. “Coach Skaggs and I were sitting in front, we looked back, and everybody was just mixed and unified. You could really not tell the separation…So it wasn’t even necessarily what I saw on the field. It was how it transferred over into their everyday lives…Even at school or in the hallways, you couldn’t tell who had a disability and who didn’t.”

Although it seems like any other sport, Perry said that Unified opens everyone’s eyes to the change they are making in the lives of many people.

The new season is starting up soon in March, beginning with a call-out meeting and leading into the after school practices and then meets. Although the team trained hard last year, “…it’s going to be even harder to get to state this year,” said Bonar. Well over two times as many teams as last year–42–will be vying for the first place trophy this season.

With hopes set high on making it once again to the state championship, the team will soon have their call-out meeting in March and then begin practices.

Perry encourages anyone interested to talk to those involved last year. She said that many of the athletes who participate in others sports have said that they enjoyed Unified even more than their own team, “because it meant so much more to them than just a sport.”

Unified Track and Field is not just about striving for that No. 1 trophy, it’s about striving to make a difference in people’s lives through dedication, unity and friendship.