DAY THREE Monday, December 4, 2017 Scroll Down for Previous Day s Results Two FSG Table Tennis Players Complete 3 Event Gold Medal Sweep Jacksonville Table Tennis player Winston Dowridge has been competing in the Florida Senior Games for three years and in each of the three years he has increased his gold medal total. The retired Navy veteran, won gold medals in all three events Monday at The Long Center in Clearwater as the gymnasium was filled to capacity with 20 tables. Dowridge (pictured at left) won the Men s Singles 55 59 age group for the second consecutive year. He teamed with Eric Penny to win the 55 59 Men s Doubles gold and with Juliana Milanov, of Winter Garden, to win 50 54 Mixed Doubles. In the 2016 Games, he won gold medals in Men s Singles 55 59 age group and the 50 54 Men s Doubles and in 2015, he won the Mixed Doubles 50 54 age group gold medal. With three gold medals hanging around his neck, after winning a total of eight matches Monday, Dowridge admits he enjoys the competition and winning gold medals, but the camaraderie plays a big part in his affection for the Florida Senior Games and table tennis. I spent my career in the Navy traveling to different bases, he said. Playing in table tennis tournaments in the Senior Games and other outlets continues to give athletes a chance to travel and opens your eyes to a whole different world out there. Also feeling the weight of three gold medals around their neck was William Lee, of Orlando. Lee won the 65 69 age group Men s Singles and Men s Doubles gold and the Mixed Doubles gold with Patricia Benitiz, in the 55 59 age group. To win the men s doubles gold medal, Lee and his partner, John Reynolds, of Palm Harbor, had to withstand a five game challenge from Stuart Lesser and William Mogensen, of The Villages. On the verge of a four game victory with a 10 8 lead, Lee and Reynolds gave up four straight points to even the match at two games each. The duo rebounded to win game five 11 6, denying Lesser and Mogensen a second consecutive gold medal in the men s doubles 65 69 age group. While Patricia Benitiz teamed with Lee to win the mixed doubles gold medal, she also won her fourth consecutive women s singles gold medal and sixth in the last seven years. Since 2010, Benitiz has won a combined 12 gold medals in women s singles and mixed doubles. Table Tennis continues Tuesday at the Long Center with athletes age 70 and over on the floor, while Men s and Women s Doubles Tennis continues at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Course. Golf begins with 18 hole competition and the first day of 36 hole competition at the Countryside Country Club.
DAY TWO SUNDAY, December 3, 2017 80+ Year Old Florida Senior Games Swimmers Continue to Break Records Florida Senior Games swimmers, age 80 and over, continued their assault on the Games record book Sunday. Of the 24 age group records broken at The Long Center in Clearwater, eight were broken by swimmers in the 80 84, 85 89 and 90 94 age group. Over 2,000 athletes are competing in the 26 th Annual Florida Senior Games in Clearwater and Pinellas County, through December 10, and on day two, six sports were in action. John Cornell, of Lady Lake, finished his two days of swimming with five new records in the 90 94 age group. On Sunday, he became the age group record holder for the 50 and 100 yard freestyle and 50 backstroke. Betty Lorenzi, of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (at left), added two more records in the 90 94 age group and set a new 50 backstroke record, topping the previous by over 40 seconds. She also set a 100 freestyle record. Charlie Weatherbee, of Clermont, set a new 200 IM record in the 85 89 age group with a time of 4:29.60, more than 1:35 faster than the record set in 2005 by Howard Hall. Patricia Tullman, of Valrico, set 80 84 age group records in the 50 yard freestyle and 200 yard butterfly. In Men s and Women s Singles Bowling, a pair of northwest Florida bowlers had the highest scores of the day. John Israel, of Pensacola, rolled a three game score of 758 (255, 269, 234) to claim the gold medal in the 70 74 age group. He was one of four men s singles bowlers, of the 73 competing to have a score of more than 700. The high women s score was turned in by Cristy Morawski, of Milton, who won the 60 64 age group gold medal with a 714. Her second game score of 278 was the best single game score of the day. She won two gold medals on Saturday, teaming with Carol Teel, of The Villages, for a women s doubles gold and record setting score in the 60 64 age group and Robert Veit, of Pensacola, in 55 59 age group mixed doubles. Winning a pair of Shuffleboard gold medals over the weekend was Dave Dean, of The Villages, whose last Florida Senior Games appearance came on the tennis and pickleball courts. Dean won the men s single gold in the 80 84 age group on Saturday and teamed with Robert Brandt Sunday, to win a doubles gold medal. Dean won Florida Senior Games Tennis and Pickleball gold medals in 75 79 age group in 2012. He turned to shuffleboard to keep his competitive juices flowing after major surgery on his foot and ankle two years ago. I can t run well so I had to give up racquet sports, said Dean. I took up shuffleboard and have been doing very well with it, especially with my partner in doubles. Larry Ardito, of Bonita Springs, won his fourth Racquetball gold medal in five years at the Richey Racquet Club in Port Richey, winning the 65 69 age group. He has also won a total of six men s singles gold medals since 2009. Ardito beat Roger O Connor, of Citrus Springs, in the gold medal match 15 10, 15 10
and won a total of four singles matches. He also paired with Lucy Ramsay, of Naples, to win the 65 69 mixed doubles gold medal. The duo won 65 69 mixed doubles gold medal at the 2017 National Senior Games. Winning four matches in two days of Men s Singles Tennis, Gabriel Wong, of Ponte Vedra Beach, took the gold medal in the 70 74 age group. He defeated Bruce Wyse in the championship match 6 1, 6 3. Wong returns to the court on Thursday to play men s singles pickleball in the 70 74 age group. In an interesting way to compete in the Florida Senior Games women s volleyball, the Beaches team defeated the Florida Girls, for the 50 54 age group gold medal. The two teams are actually a collection of 20 women s volleyball players that are divided up into teams based on their availability for tournament play, according to team organizer Susie Williamson, of Edgewater, who played collegiate volleyball and basketball at Stetson University. Williamson s Beaches team came up on the short end of a 25 18, winner take all game for the gold medal, against the Florida Girls led by Sandy Garner, of Daytona Beach, who played collegiate volleyball at the University of Memphis and was the girl s volleyball coach at Daytona Beach Mainland High School. We send out emails to the 20 players to find out if they can play at tournaments, said Williamson. Then Sandy and I divide up the teams by the level of skill. We had 13 of the 20 playing today. The Beaches team consisted of Sandy Smaltz, Sandy Garner, Wendy Warfield, Teri Male, Cara Swayze and Lisa Huntley (in order left to right in photo above). In the 60 64 age group, the Vintage Volleys team, from The Villages, defeated the Vintage Volleys Senior Team, in three games for the gold medal. After dropping game one 25 13, the Junior Volleys won the next two games 25 22 and 15 5. The gold medal winning Vintage Volleys team is made up of Terry Thomas, Heath Davenport, Mimi Morrill, Nanc Dumonz, Barbie Strome, Chris Pusch, Suzanne Vallario and Renie Curry. After a full weekend, the 2017 Florida Senior Games continues Monday with two sports in action. The first day of Men s and Women s Doubles Tennis begins at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club and Table Tennis begins its first day of competition at The Long Center with the 50 69 age groups in action.
DAY ONE Saturday, December 2 90 Year Old Swimmers Turn in Record Performances and Bowler Rolls Perfect Game at Florida Senior Games Day One Day One of the 2017 Florida Senior Games featured memorable performances by athletes in the 90+ age groups, recordsetting times and scores in the swimming pool and on bowling lanes and a gold medal winning effort by a volleyball team playing together for the first time. Over 2,000 athletes are competing in the 26 th Annual Florida Senior Games in Clearwater and Pinellas County, through December 10, and on day one, eight sports were in action. Of the 24 swimming age group records broken at The Long Center Pool Saturday, six were set by swimmers in the 90 94 age group. Betty Lorenzi, of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, topped the U.S. Masters Swimming 100 yard backstroke national record by 20 seconds with a time of 1:54.60. She also holds the 100 yard back U.S. Masters Swimming national records in the 80 84 and 85 89 age groups. She bested the previous 90 94 age group Florida Senior Games record by a minute and a half. Lorenzi also established a Florida Senior Games 200 yard backstroke record in the 90 94 age group. Jean Troy, of Sun City Center, set 90 94 age group records in the 100 breaststroke and 200 freestyle and John Cornell, of Lady Lake, set records in the 100 back and 100 breaststroke. In Mixed Doubles Bowling at Seminole Lanes, Gregory Lindsay, of North Fort Myers, rolled the fifth perfect game in the history of the Florida Senior Games. After a 185 and 231 game with his partner Joanne Herman, of Seminole, Lindsay rolled 12 consecutive strikes for the 300 game. Lindsay and Herman s combined score of 1241 was good for a silver medal in the 55 59 age group. Prior to rolling his perfect game, Lindsay was part of a record setting men s doubles effort with Jerry Lake, of Cape Coral. The duo combined for a score of 1439, beating the previous 50 54 age group record by 131 pins. Lake had a three game score of 752 while Lindsay had a 687. In women s doubles, Carol Teel, of The Villages, and Cristy Morawski, of Milton, set a new all time best women s doubles score with a 1392 and a new record in the 60 64 age group. The previous best women s doubles score was 1302 and the previous best 60 64 age group record was set by Teel and Mary Chamberlin, a 1224, in 2016. Morawski s three game score of 783 was the highest of all bowlers on Saturday. Robert Greene and Bruce Silvey, of St. Petersburg, set a new men s doubles record in the 80 84 age group with a combined score of 1168. The previous record was 1154. The Palm Harbor Spikers won the Men s 50+ Volleyball gold medal defeating The Ref Shop, of Madiera Beach, a team that has won gold medals in three of the last four years. The Spikers lost to the Ref Shop in pool play but advanced to the gold medal game and avenged the earlier loss. After dropping the first game 25 19, the Spikers won game two 25 23 and came from behind to win game three 15 12. In the deciding game, the Ref Shop took an early lead but the Spikers stormed back to take a lead and hold it. Mike Knorowski got hot on the serve and scored five straight points, said Daniel Perez, the team captain.
Members of the Spikers team have played on various teams in Senior Games events but came together for the first time as a team at the 2017 Games. The team includes Daniel Perez, of Palm Harbor; Jamie Feliciano and Mike Knorowski, of Wesley Chapel; Arben Marleci and Kenneth Hayes, of Clearwater; Nelson Matos, of Largo; James Huber, of The Villages; Bruce Benz and Jim Jantze. We played very well for a team getting together for the first time, said Perez. And we beat a really good team for the gold medal. The Archery competition at the Joe Dimaggio Sports Complex featured two impressive records being set. Tim Walker, of North Fort Myers, established a new all time high score in the Recurve event, shooting an 834 to win the gold medal in the 55 59 age group. He topped the previous all time high score and 55 59 age group record by 38 points, set by Jeffrey Wiseman, of The Villages, in 2007. It is the first 800 score in the event in Florida Senior Games history. John Horwath, the 2016 Florida Senior Games Male Athlete of the Year, from The Villages, became the first archery athlete in the history of the Games to compete in the 95 99 age group. He established the age group record in the Compound & Release event shooting a 789. He also holds the 90 94 Compound & Release age group record and three age group records (80+, 85+, 90+) in the Compound &Finger event. The overall high score was shot by James Harden, of Ocala, an 872 (of a possible 900) in the Compound & Release event to win the gold medal in the 55 59 age group. The overall highest women s score was turned in by Joyce Haniman, of Fort Pierce, an 826, to win the Compound & Release 50 54 age group gold medal. At the Clearwater Lawn Bowls and Shuffleboard Complex, Henry and Linda Armstrong, of Woodslee, Ontario and Lakeland, continue to be the most prolific Florida Senior Games shuffleboard players in the history of the Games. They each won their ninth singles gold medal, dating back to 2005 for Henry and 2007 for Linda. This year s gold came in the 65 69 age group for both. The 2017 Games most experienced athlete, 96 year old Paul Allaire, of Clearwater, won a gold medal in the 95 99 age group. He is one of only five shuffleboard players to compete in the 90+ age groups in the 26 years of the Florida Senior Games. He will play doubles on Sunday with his partner Pete Desjardins, of Safety Harbor. Tai Chi, now in its second year in the Florida Senior Games, feature a variety of forms and push hands competitions. David Wong Yee, of Clearwater, won three gold medals and a silver and recorded three of the highest forms scores of the day. Yee, a clinical herbalist and acupuncturist, scored a 9.2 of a possible 10 points in his gold medalwinning Advanced Hand Forms, Advanced Sword and Advanced Other Weapons events. He also won a bronze medal in push hands. Janet Montague, of Bradenton, won gold medalsin the Advanced Sword and Advance Other weapons and has won five gold medals in two years of Florida Senior Games Tai Chi competition. St. Petersburg s Andrew Walker moved up to the Advanced Push Hands Division and defeated the 2016 Advanced Gold Medalist, Sam Winters, for the championship. Walker, who won the Beginner Division Push Hands in 2016, also defeated Charles Boardman en route to the gold medal. Day Two of the 2017 features action in six sports as Racquetball, Bowling, Volleyball, Shuffle board, Swimming come to an end. Men s and Women s Singles Tennis will also conclude, but Tennis continues through December 7.
Schedule for Sunday, December 3 Racquetball, Richey Racquet, Port Richey, 7:30 a.m. Tennis (M/W Singles), Innisbrook Resort and Spa, Palm Harbor, 8:00 a.m. Volleyball, The Long Center, Clearwater, 8:00 a.m. Bowling Men s and Women s Singles, Seminole Lanes, 9:00 a.m. Shuffleboard, Clearwater Lawn Bowls and Shuffleboard Complex, 9:00 a.m. Swimming, The Long Center, Clearwater, 10:00 a.m. Bowling Team, Seminole Lanes, 1:00 p.m. The Florida Senior Games are presented annually by the Florida Sports Foundation, a division of Enterprise Florida, Inc., and held in conjunction with the City of Clearwater and St. Pete/Clearwater Sports & Events. For competition information and further information on the Florida Senior Games, visit www.floridaseniorgames.com. Florida Sports Foundation Director of Communications, Nick Gandy, is on location in Clearwater through Monday, December 11, for media inquiries, please contact him at (850) 322 3404 or ngandy@flasports.com.