By Breven Honda
The 25th Anniversary spring season for the Mesquite Senior Games is officially in the books. Over the course of eight weeks between March and April, seniors aged 50 years and older participated in different sports and activities ranging from bowling to fitness hike and track and field.
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“I think they went very well,” Mesquite Senior Games Board President Sandy Tudor said. “I compared some of this year’s events to past events, and most of them were about the same participation. Some of them were a little bit up. Some of them were a little bit down. But for the most part, I’d say it was a pretty successful season.”
Seven of the 15 events took place in April, including the shotgun sports event in Hurricane, Utah. This was one of the first years that the shotgun sports and the target pistol events did not take place at the save venue.
The target pistol event, which took place one week before shotgun sports, took place a couple miles from Mesquite in Bunkerville.
“The biggest change of course was the venue for target pistol, and that worked really well,” Tudor said. “I think we’ll get a lot more participation, not having to drive to Hurricane, to have the target pistol. We still had shotgun there, and that’s okay, because the people that play in one don’t play in the other.”
In between the target pistol and shotgun sports events was the women’s softball tournament. Outside of some logistical planning issue with the field, the tournament was very successful. This year and every two years, the women’s softball tournament is a qualifier event for the national senior games.
As a result, there were six teams who not only had a successful tournament, but also moved on to nationals, which will take place in Des Moines, Iowa.
After the softball tournament, the history tour took place. With the new Heritage Park building the Mesquite Senior Games ensure to stop there along the tour.
“It has a lot of plaques and busts and history information in it,” Tudor said of Heritage Park. “So what we did this year was we ended up there as we had our lunch.”
Cornhole followed one day after the history tour. Taking place in the VIP parking lot behind the Eureka Casino.
Like the other sporting events, medals for gold, silver and bronze were handed out. In addition, the Mesquite Senior Games gave out a special medal for those who got all four bags in the hole in the same turn. Four players – Chuck Werner, David Graybill, Victor Madrid and Gary Graybill – achieved the feat to earn the special medal.
The basketball skills event took place next. The skills challenge event consisted of shots from the free throw and the 3-point line as well as a hot shot event where players make baskets from select spots on the floor.
The free throw event consisted of accuracy with 25 shots. The 3-point contest is just like the one in the NBA with a rack with five ball at five different spots around the arc.
“For the hot shot, basically we put down numbers on the floor,” Tudor said. “Number one is a layup. Number two is a little farther away. Number three, four and five are farther away. You get one minute to shoot as much as you want from any of those, and if you make it, you get the number associated with it. So if you make it from number five, you get five points for that.”
Then, the track and field event commenced at Virgin Valley High School. Whether it was the running or speed walking events or the jumping and the throwing events, everyone enjoyed their time.
“Track and field the next day was awesome,” Tudor said. “We had more competitors in more events than we’ve had in a couple years.”
One of the great traditions every year is having the VVHS track and field athletes take time out of their Saturday to give back
“They love it,” Tudor said on having the high school students help out. “We had one guy who was 91.”
That 91-year-old was Stanley Reed, who participated in the 5K Walk and Run. He finished the event in 47:59 alongside multiple Bulldogs students.
There was a second person in the 90-plus age group that participated. Gerald Chase participated in seven different events: 50 meter run, discus, long jump, shot put, softball throw, standing long jump and the triple jump.
Tudor said competitors like Reed and Chase, exemplify why this organization exists.
“That is the goal of the Senior Games: to keep our seniors active, engaged, and give them a give them something fun to do,” Tudor said. “I think we’ve succeeded on that unquestionably (throughout the entire season).”
The spring slate wrapped up with the golf skills and the golf tournament. As locals know, living in the valley, windy conditions can arise, which happened, especially during the skills competition, primarily the putting contest.
Despite mother nature playing a critical role, the competitors were able to overcome the elements.
“I’ve never found anybody who goes, ‘Oh, I love wind.’ It doesn’t happen,” Tudor said. “Nobody was too happy with the wind, but again, they understand that we’re really good, and there’s a lot we can do, but we can’t do a darn thing about the weather. If it’s hot, it’s not my fault. If it’s a beautiful day, I’ll take credit for it, but that’s about it.”
