Mississippi State Unified club sport athletes hope to make this year’s Special Olympics Egg Bowl their team’s third-straight victory over their biggest rival, Ole Miss.
Before this year’s gridiron showdown in Oxford on Nov. 29, the Bulldogs and Rebels will face off in Starkville for the ninth Special Olympics flag football match between the two rivals. The game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Nov. 18, at the MSU RecPlex near the Sawyer Tennis Courts on Stone Boulevard. Attendees are asked to bring lawn chairs to the event.
“This team has worked incredibly hard this season, putting in time and effort each week to keep getting better,” said Head Coach Trace Cockrell, whose team is coming off a recent victory against the University of Alabama. “We look forward to the opportunity of a three-peat. Now, all we need is for everyone to come out and watch this team keep the Golden Egg in Starkville.”
MSU’s Special Olympics College Program, also known as Unified, is a club sport program that focuses on the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and allows these individuals to come together to compete with other athletes. Led by student club Co-President Josh Bell, a senior special education major from Waveland; Co-President Erin Wigginton, a junior special education major from Saltillo; Hadley Howell, Luckyday Scholars Program coordinator and club faculty advisor; and MSU Competitive Sports Coordinator Sean Kucharski, the program now offers eight different sports and activities for athletes to compete in each year. Previously, Unified earned a silver medal in the 2022 USA Special Olympics and a third-place finish in the NIRSA National Championships in 2023.
To learn more information about this year’s Special Olympics Egg Bowl or how you can support MSU’s Unified program, contact Erin Wigginton at [email protected].