Penn unified track team finally captures IHSAA state championship
· Yahoo Sports
It's been some month of June already for Bennett Blazo.
First, he welcomed son Jack into his family on June 1.
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Five days later, he guided his Penn High School unified track team, his second family, to the program's first state championship in Indianapolis on June 6.
Blazo saw his team win the 12-team IHSAA state finals at North Central High School. The Kingsmen scored a meet record 129 points to top runner-up and two-time defending state champion Elkhart by eight points.
"To finally achieve it, it was like oh my gosh," said Blazo in a phone interview June 8. "We had worked and gotten closer and closer to it. We were like, 'when will it be our time?' To see the excitement on Saturday on all the kids faces made me so happy. We were just overwhelmed with energy when they announced that Elkhart had finished second and we knew that we had won it."
Penn has come a long way since Blazo helped start the program eight years ago. He took over after working with Special Olympics, talking with Penn AD Jeff Hart and assistant AD Marie Doan about getting a team started at Penn.
The Kingsmen had 22 athletes that first year. This year, they had 92.
"It's grown pretty much due to word of mouth around the school," Blazo explained of the dramatic increase in numbers. "We're a family. It's about the kids sharing the experience and being part of a team and a program. There's no pressure."
Blazo's team was state runner-up in 2025 as Elkhart won the crown with 123 points to 119 for Penn. The Kingsmen were runner-up to Elkhart in the NorthWood Sectional as the Lions totaled 154 points to Penn's 113. They then won the NorthWood Regional title with 133 points to Elkhart's 131.
"Looking at the heat sheets prior to state, we knew where we were sitting and that was in third place," Blazo said. "We knew that to win it, we needed multiple kids to finish higher than they were seeded to get us more points. That's exactly what happened for us too. Like in the 400 dash, we had two kids finish first and second to get us six additional points than from the seedings."
A total of 40 Penn athletes competed in the state finals, where the 129 points topped the previous state finals record of 126 scored by Valparaiso in 2021.
The Kingsmen got heat wins at the State Finals from Elia DeSelm in the 400, Ethan Holmes and Hope Roberson in the long jump and Cohen Schiff and Anden Carmichael in the shot put. They also got heat wins from the boys 4x100 relay team of Cash Caloni, Chase Weaver, Carmichael and Aidan Gigante and the 4x100 girls relay team of Logan Edwards, Payton Blatz, Alina Blackwell and Caitlyn Ganor.
Blazo says that unified track, which continues to grow statewide, is so beneficial to so many.
"This helps these kids so much," Blazo said. "Now they are part of the school culture. They are found, seen and celebrated. They get to build friendships and relationships that are amazing with one another."
Blazo also credited his assistant coach, Jose Gutierrez.
"He's been with me for the last five years and I'm so thankful for him," Blazo stated. "He's done a lot for this program and our kids."
Blazo and his wife Kelsey now have a newborn to go with two-year old daughter Harper.
Blazo says that he gets plenty from being the coach of another state championship program at Penn.
"The way it brings everyone together is amazing," said Blazo. "To see the kids recognized and to see the memories that they are able to create just brings so much happiness to my life."
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Penn unified track and field reigns as 2026 IHSAA state champions