INDIANAPOLIS — Jeffery Brown and Deanna Mallow of Kileen, Texas, took home the first place trophy after a hotly contested 2009 National Special Needs Team Roadeo during the Transporting Students with Disabilities & Preschoolers 18th National Conference & Exhibition.

The economy appeared to have something to do with smaller total conference attendance numbers than from recent years, and only 16 teams competed this year down from 30 in 2008. But that fact did not keep the participants from pushing each other in such skills tests as evacuations, railroad crossings and child passenger seat restraints. Brown and Mallow held off Lynea Brown and Michael Ingraham of Falcon, Colo., by just five points. Finishing in third place was Suzanne Gettings and Lee Ann Ovens of Penn Yann, N.Y.