INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) held its 2025 Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) leadership retreat on Saturday and Sunday. The two-day event saw student athletes from the member campuses ascend upon Indianapolis, Ind. for a retreat that focused on providing leadership training and other personal growth opportunities for the participants.
Day one of the two day event was centered on discovering next steps post-graduation for the student athletes, thanks to the newly announced partnership with Ahlete2Exec (release).
Sara Murray, founder of Athlete2Exec presented on how being an athlete can be tranferrable to the workforce. Athlete2Exec specializes in equipping student-athletes with the tools, training, and connections they need to excel in the job market after graduation with a high focus on enabling athletes to translate their athletic experience into marketable professional skills. The partnership will provide Heartland Conference student-athletes with access to career development resources and coaching from seasoned executives in a variety of industries who were athletes themselves. Beyond training, Athlete2Exec will also serve as a bridge between student-athletes and employers who recognize the unique value that athletes bring to the workplace: discipline, leadership, teamwork, and resilience.
On Saturday night, the student-athletes spent time connecting and bonding with one another at Back9 Golf & Entertainment in Indianapolis.
On Sunday, Sept. 21, the HCAC partnered with Special Olympics Indiana to host the eleventh annual Unified Sports Bowling Championship at Royal Pin Western in Indianapolis.
Championship Photos
The event saw over 120 Special Olympic athletes from Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio as well student athletes from its ten member schools. The day filled with laughs and smiles also showcased some top-notch competitive bowling. Unified sports give athletes with intellectual disabilities and athletes without intellectual disabilities the opportunity to compete together on a team. Each school had a total of three teams, with each team comprised of a total of five, two athletes with intellectual disabilities and at least two athletes without. All teams received ribbons for their respective finishes.
The team with the highest score was awarded the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship trophy. The team from Anderson University was crowned the champions, touting an impressive team score of 1,794.
First Team All-Conference awards were presented to the topteam of five bowlers with the total pin fall. Second Team All-Conference awards were presented to the second place team of five bowlers. See below for the list of First and Second Team All-Conference winners.
The partnership between the HCAC and Special Olympics aligns with the Division III strategic-positioning platform as the student-athlete becomes more involved in the local community.
Team Standings
| Place |
Institution |
Points |
| 1 |
Anderson University |
1794 |
| 2 |
Bluffton University |
1654 |
| 3 |
Franklin College |
1511 |
| 4 |
Hanover College |
1507 |
| 5 |
Manchester University |
1432 |
| 6 |
Transylvania University |
1402 |
| 7 |
Berea College |
1390 |
| 8 |
Earlham College |
1342 |
| 9 |
Mount St. Joseph University |
847 |
| 10 |
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology |
546 |
First-Team All-Conference
Bluffton University - 1 (676)
| John Manning |
| Bill Bialecki |
| Adam Abshire |
| Audrey Hudson |
| Ashley Kloeker |
Second-Team All-Conference
Anderson University - 2 (657)
| Hanna Smith |
| Chris McKee |
| Lacy Rathbun |
| Noah Singleton |
| Jayda Lanham |