Photo on front of Saturday 25 July 2009 sports sections of The Olympian daily newspaper of Olympia, Wash. Photo cutline reads:Sue Hinz, 61, of Pullman, winds up to throw Friday in the Washington State Senior Games hammer competition at SMU.
(SMU = St. Martin's University in Lacey, Wash.)
Accompanying photo and cutline was this story:
Throwing their weight around - Senior games: Weight events draw
athletes who are tuning up for other senior track competitions
By Meg Wochnick, Olympian,Olympia, Wash.,
Saturday, July 25, 2009
LACEY, Wash. – Gary Gish
didn’t need much motivation when looking to try something new.
At 69, Gish, from
Portland, wanted to do as many events as he could during this weekend’s 2009
Washington State Senior Games, and get back into the competitive
spirit of sports.
For the past 10 years,
he’s dealt with several health issues that resulted in surgeries. Just two
months ago, he received two stents in his heart.
None of that is slowing
him down, however.
"And (tonight),
when I get done, I’ll go to the hospital, then head home," Gish said
jokingly. "I’ll be halfway dead by the time I get done with these
events."
First up for Gish and
nearly 30 others was Friday’s hammer, weight and super weight competitions,
which kicked off the track and field portion of the Games at Saint
Martin’s University. They were three of eight scheduled events for Gish this
weekend. The others include billiards, shot put, discus, javelin and softball
throw.
"It’s something to
do," Gish said. "I’ve never thrown these things."
The hammer throw is in
its fourth year at the Senior Games, but its first year at Saint
Martin’s. The prior three years, the weight events were held at the hammer cage
behind Tiger Stadium in Centralia. SMU’s newly christened cage was built
earlier this year and is home to the Saints’ throwers in track and field.
The competitions Friday
included nearly 30 athletes – 19 of them men – many of them from out of state.
Interest in the hammer has grown since it became a Senior Games
event in 2006.
"The women are all
the same, but the men, two-thirds of them are from California," said Fran
Melzer, 70, who won the women’s hammer competition in her age group with a
series-best throw of 85 feet, 9 inches.
For some, Friday’s
competition was a tuneup for the weeks to come. The National Senior Games
will be Aug. 1-15 in the San Francisco Bay area.
"We have about
300-plus of our participants going down to the Bay Area to compete (at
nationals)," said Jack Kiley, president of the Puget Sound Senior Games.
Olympia’s Debbie
Dohrmann, 59, is one of many South Sound athletes who will be making the trip
to nationals. She will compete in five events – the hammer throw, discus, shot
put, javelin and 100-meter dash. She finished first in her age group at
Friday’s hammer competition with a best throw of 78-4.
"I’m glad it’s
finally worked out," Dorhmann said about getting the opportunity to
compete at nationals.
George Mathews, 66, of
Hayden Lake, Idaho, wowed the spectators and other participants with his
monstrous throws in his second year at the Senior Games. He is
just days from taking off for Finland to compete in the World Masters Track and
Field Championships, Tuesday through Aug. 8, in the hammer throw.
"It’ll be a lot of fun,"
Mathews said.
Among the most popular Senior
Games events are track and field (Tumwater District Stadium) today;
softball (Mason County Recreation Area) today and swimming (Briggs YMCA) and
cycling (The Lodge at Jubilee) Sunday.