Rolling on to victory: Add senior Matt Minger to the roster of champion Lincoln-Way High School athletes.
“He’s done something that not everybody can put their name next to,” said Lincoln-Way Central High School Principal Jay Johnson as he introduced the senior from New Lenox to the school board at a recent meeting.
Minger, the son of Dawn and Roy Minger, was a star player on the undefeated Rollin’ Rebels Wheelchair Basketball team that won the National Junior Wheelchair Basketball Tournament held recently at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
The team entered the tournament with a 14-0 record, defeating teams from Massachusetts, Missouri and Wisconsin to emerge with an 18-0 record.
Minger has played for three years on the Rollin’ Rebels team sponsored by Chicagoland Area Wheelchair Sports (CAWS) of Indiana, and proves his dedication to the sport by traveling from New Lenox to Merrillville, Ind., for practice.
Taking the title was “a great way to end” his years on the junior team, said Minger, who plans to continue playing his favorite sport because he relishes the competition.
Minger, who plans to enroll at Joliet Junior College after graduation, expects to play with the CAWS men’s team.