Leo Gruber, Breccan Liddy and Anthony West tensed in anticipation. The Patriots wiggled their fingers sending vibes to 18-year-old Jakob Elstad.
Elstad sauntered towards Lane 19, cocked his arm back. He faced six pins on his second ball — not impossible to clear, but not easy either.
The ball flung from Elstad’s fingers and in that moment, the Greenway Bowl bowling alley was the most silent it would ever be — even amid the 20th century pop hits and constant cheering from the Glen Burnie team in the corner.
“Let’s get some spares; let’s get some strikes,” Elstad said.
Elstad’s pitch drove down the lane and swiped the floor clean. The senior turned back with his mouth agape. His teammates roared.
Until Glen Burnie’s post-bowl dance party around 2:30, that particular Old Mill foursome had dancing on lock at the 2024 Anne Arundel County unified bowling championships. Sometimes they’d pose like Ray Lewis exiting the Ravens tunnel. Sometimes they’d crouch, rolled an invisible ball and bellowed “BOOM” — spares or strikes only.
You’d have never known they only knew each other for four weeks when the team had to reshuffle. But such is the magic of unified bowling.
“Jakob really got our dances going,” Gruber said. “It’s definitely been special. Old Mill’s been a big community outside of everything, but to be able to step away from football, lacrosse and do something special for the community makes everybody welcomed.”
Anne Arundel County Public Schools Athletics divides its unified bowling into four miniature county championships, split over Wednesday and Friday. Crofton (136.1) and Northeast (151.7) claimed titles on Day 1, and Severna Park (160.1) got its Friday morning.
Old Mill needed every piece of its team to win to edge out the Glen Burnie and Ruth Parker Eason partnership for gold by one pin with a 141.
“It’s all about fun at the end of the day. The score doesn’t really matter,” Liddy said.
When Old Mill’s Sarah Easton went to collect her medal, Glen Burnie erupted in cheers. She had previously attended Glen Burnie before her family moved. Glen Burnie coach Marissa Neumann made sure Old Mill took her on.
Everything Neumann touches turns to gold, said Glen Burnie athletic director Kyle Hines. Before she took over the school’s unified sports last year, the three sports averaged about 10 to 20 participants. This winter, Gophers bowling carried 65 partners (able-bodied students) and athletes (disabled students).
Word of mouth worked wonders, as a small group of “really good group of kids” snowballed out and made unified as much of a staple to Glen Burnie’s athletic department as football, softball or cheer. The partnership with special education school Ruth Parker Eason, which just opened this year, affords the Gophers the opportunity to include more partners than the allotted 40 total students.
“It’s becoming one of those sports you just play,” Neumann said, “and I think it helps the fall and spring players who don’t have a winter sport.”
Football and baseball player Johnathan Maddox joined two years ago after spending his lunch with some of the athletes. On Friday between turns, he joined Brynn Mitchell, who waltzed with their Ruth Parker Eason athlete, transforming their lane into a dance floor for just a moment.
Neumann kicked off the championships by jumping into the plastic table and pumping her fist with a rallying cry. She threaded through her crowd, waving her own pom, when bus limitations drew the Glen Burnie cheerleaders away. Every time a Gopher bowled a strike, a boisterous “strike!” chant breezed through the crowd.
“Last year was still a good team, but being able to see our team pretty much double has been such a good thing to me,” Maddox said.
Senior athlete Desmon Paris followed Neumann into it.
“A memory that stands out for me is just having a great time,” Paris said. “Actually getting to spend quality time.”
Junior Emily Soto picked up the unified torch from her sister Holly, and dedicates all three seasons to it. Welcoming the Ruth Parker Eason athletes into the Gophers fold this year just added another irreplaceable element to the experience.
“There’s some of them who’ve had hard times with all this and they’ve grown so much over time,” Soto said. “Their personalities come out so much.”
Neumann and Glen Burnie’s impact extends beyond the lanes.
Last year, Neumann began setting up a food drive at bowling, collecting cans, boxes and other nonperishables for Happy Helpers for the Homeless. The food will then go back into the Glen Burnie, as well as Baltimore City area, communities — including plenty of kids in northern Anne Arundel.
Last winter, teams brought about 800 items. This year, she expects about 600, but it could be more.
“It was just something to give back,” Newmann said. “Something that was hopefully easier for our community.”
Glen Burnie did not slow its cheers down as the two hour county championships partied on. But that team wasn’t the only one cheering their hearts out.
Arundel rallied around senior David “DJ” Rice, a six-year unified bowler. Bocce is his favorite sport, but all of them make him “happy and excited.” He loves the team bus most of all.
After the first few rounds, Rice turned around and shook his head. He wanted to bowl a strike so he could fire off his finger guns and blow smoke, said Wildcats coach Barry Kitchen.
But he was just getting started. The Wildcat ruled the room for a time, finishing his second round with a 142.
The Wildcats earned a team bronze. Arundel’s high-game athlete was Andrew Smith and his Maryland flag headband (190) and junior partner Nathan Montagne, who scored a high game 191.
“I didn’t know much about it before, but I enjoyed it my sophomore year and came back,” Montagne said. “Bowling’s fun, but being able to help out makes me feel like I’m being a better person. It’s kind to help someone else out, and for them to be having fun while we’re doing it is pretty incredible.
