The Long Run – July 2014

The following day we enjoyed watching competition at several sport venues.  Our thanks to Ken Ash (seen above right with Riker and Kaiser), Dave Fox, Emily Lorenz and all of the great volunteers for their hospitality and for staging well organized games in the Show Me State.

 Personal Best Profiles and Tour Blog

“Team Post Shredded Wheat” Grant Winners Announced

In addition, NSGA and Post also wanted a way to engage senior athletes in the promotion, so we also offered an athlete essay contest. Post awarded grants to several athletes over the age of 50 to compete as members of Team Post Shredded Wheat in their state qualifying Senior Games competition. More than 560 entries were submitted and winners were selected. Through the grant, Post Shredded Wheat will pay the winners’ entry fee, along with providing them active gear and heart-healthy cereal to help them achieve their athletic pursuits.

2015 Venue Snapshot:  Swimming

Last month we bragged on the great track and field venue at the University of St. Thomas.  This month we take you to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for a few laps in the pool.

The University of Minnesota Aquatic Center features a 50 meter racing pool with an adjacent diving well. It has hosted more than five million participants since it was built in 1990. Locker room facilities are spacious, and there is a multiuse lobby area and plenty of spectator seating for visitor comfort and enjoyment of the action.

Get ready! Bloomington, Minneapolis and St. Paul are offering their best for you at the 2015 National Senior Games Presented by Humana.

 2015 National Games Information

Non-Ambulatory Sports Promoted to Veterans

As previously noted, non-ambulatory sport divisions will be added for bowling, horseshoes and shuffleboard in the 2015 Games in Minnesota. Last week, NSGA board member Dewayne Vaughan attended the National Veterans Golden Age Games in Fayetteville, Arkansas to promote this new addition. Vaughan is a former director for these games, which are one of NSGA’s qualifying member events.

“I knew they have a large number of disabled participants, so I wanted to make sure they are aware of this new opportunity,” Vaughan said. “I was allowed to speak to the coaches on the first day, and it was exciting to get a positive response from both them and all of the athletes I spoke with during my visit.”

Vaughan also met with the director of the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, who agreed to share information with their members. “I also enjoyed encouraging all of the able bodied athlete veterans to come to the National Senior Games and enjoy the unique experience they will find there,” he added.

“Who’s Next” for State Qualifying Games?

It was like old times when sisters Janet McDonough (on right in photo) and Patty Sweetall gave dominating swimming performances in Cleveland at the 2013 National Senior Games Presented by Humana.  Janet, of Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, earned four gold medals while breaking national records in the 55-59 age group in the 100-yard and 200-yard individual medley plus the 50-yard and 100-yard backstroke. Patty, who resides in Louisville, Kentucky, swam in the 50-54 age group. She victoriously broke records for the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events and earned silver in the 50-meter breaststroke.

“We started swimming competitively at a neighborhood pool in Pittsburgh when I was eight and she was six,” Janet recalls. “We swam together through high school, and on relays I swam backstroke and Patty did breaststroke.” The sister act continued as Janet earned a scholarship to the swim team at West Virginia University, and Patty followed when she completed high school. They shared two years of NCAA Division I collegiate competition and again teamed up on relays.

After college both took a break from swimming. Janet says 15 years of intense competition “kinda burned me out” so she moved to group fitness classes while Patty turned her sport passion to running.  Janet got back in the water at 40, and after gradually building up her fitness she decided to try competing locally again seven years ago. She was delighted to find she still had winning ways. “When I learned of the National Senior Games from a swimming teammate, I went to the Pennsylvania games in 2012 to qualify and talked Patty into going to the Kentucky games,” she says. “She was hesitant at first, but she surrendered to big sister pressure.”

Patty, who works in one of Louisville YMCA’s Child Care areas, is grateful for the nudge. “We don’t see each other that much, and we had such a good time,” she says. “It was fun to see what I was capable of doing. What was nice is that I had no pressure on me.”

In 2015 both will be in the 55-59 age group, but Janet explains there won’t be a dramatic sibling rivalry in their competition. “The odd and funny thing is that we never swam the same events. I was always backstroke and individual medley (which is a little bit of everything) and shorter distance freestyle events. Patty is a hardcore, solid breaststroker who also does some longer distance freestyle.  So we won’t be in the same events and can cheer each other on.”

Janet adds that the sister act heads to the FINA World Championships in Montreal in August with their grown daughters for a girls week of swimming and fun. “We’re both really happy the Senior Games got us competing together again. We can’t wait to go to Minnesota next year!”

We’re always looking for great athlete stories.  Submit yours and read more athlete stories on our Athlete of the Month page at NSGA.com!

Gettin’ Fit for 2015 T-Shirt Now Available

Of course you can always select NSGA images to place on high quality merchandise in your choice of color and graphic(s).

Visit The NSGA Store at NSGA.com to get yours.