Six Sports Kick off Opening Day of the 2018 Florida Senior Games, presented by Humana
CLEARWATER, Fla. — First-time Florida Senior Games, presented by Humana, athlete, Ginger Barbacovey, from Cantonment, had a big day at Seminole Lanes winning a Women’s Doubles Gold Medal with partner Theda Hicks, of Pace, and a had a fourth place Mixed Doubles finish with partner Lawrence Draeger.
In the Women’s Doubles 60-64 age group gold medal winning effort, Barbarcovey was one of only three bowlers on the day with a three-game combined over 700, and the lone woman. She rolled a 277 in her first game, a 204 in the second, and a 246 in the third.
Adding in her three-game score of 675, in Mixed Doubles, the second-highest individual score, she had the best six game total of all bowlers with 1,402 pins knocked down.
“I had a pretty good day with five of my six games being 200 or more,” Barbacovey said. “I ran out of gas in the last mixed doubles game and didn’t make it.”
Even though no new records were set in bowling Saturday, each of the 70-74 Men’s and Women’s Doubles gold medal winning teams came within three pins of breaking age group records. Gerald Teel, of The Villages, and Summerfield’s Ed Fenstermacher’s score of 1308 was the highest men’s doubles score of the day and just short of the record of 1,311, set in 2010 by Richard Merrill, of Lady Lake, and Samuel Anzalone, of The Villages.
The 70-74 women’s team of Terri Stein, Winter Haven and Gloriann Dickinson, of Aubundale, rolled a combined score of 1,049, three off of the 1,052-mark set by Marianne Zipse, of Pinellas Park and Hanh Pullen, of St. Petersburg, in 2006.
A total of 25 swimming age group records were broken in eight events at The Long Center, 14 by women and 11 by men.
Sharon Steinmann, of St. Petersburg, led the record-setting contingent of the 16 swimmers with three new records in the 60-64 age group. She established a new mark in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 2:31.81, 10 seconds faster than the previous best. Her time of 2:52.41 in the 200 Backstroke was seven seconds better than the previous record and her third record setter was in the 100 Backstroke, with a time of 1:20.07, two seconds quicker previous top time.
Jorge Gonzalez powers through the breaststroke during his 50-yard record-setting performance.
Other multiple record-setting performances were turned in by Julianna Holbrook, of Plant City; Jeanne Hackett, of The Villages; Patty Fennell, of Ormond Beach; Linda Fulton, of Celebration; Jorge Gonzalez, of Tampa; and John Cornell and William Zani, both of The Villages. Cornell’s record times came, in the 90-94 age group, in the 200 Freestyle and 50 Breaststroke.
In what long-time Archery Sport Director Tim Austin called “difficult conditions with gusting winds,” at the Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex, James Harden, of Ocala, turned in the top score of the day shooting an 875, of a possible 900, to win the Compound Release gold medal in the 55-59 age group.
The top women’s performance came from Melanie White, of Weston, with a score of 859. Both Harden and White hold the top all-time scores in Florida Senior Games history as Harden shot an 891 of a the possible 900 in the 2011 Games Compound and Release event and White scored an 877 in the 2013 Games.
Another first-time Florida Senior Games participant, Tatyana Muntyan, of Delray Beach, established an all-time high Women’s Recurve record, with a score of 836, to win the 50-54 age group gold medal. Muntyan, currently a member of the U.S. National Team, Senior Division, competed for the Soviet Union at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games.
At the Clearwater Lawn Bowls and Shuffleboard Complex, Henry and Linda Armstrong, of Lakeland, continued their gold medal winning ways. Linda won her 10th Women’s Singles gold medal, dating back to 2007, in the 65-69 age group gold, and Henry claimed his 10th Men’s Singles gold medal dating back to 2005 in the 70-74 age group.
Also on the courts Saturday was the Games’ Most Experienced Athlete, 97 year old Paul Allaire, of Clearwater, who won the gold medal in the 95-99 age group. Allaire will team with Pete DesJardines, of Safety Harbor on Sunday in Doubles competition.
Clearwater’s David Wong Yee won his third consecutive Men’s Advanced Hand Form Gold Medals and Janet Montague, of Bradenton, won her third consecutive Women’s Sword Advanced Gold Medal at the Countryside Recreation Center. Wong Yee and Montague are the only FSG Tai Chi athletes to have won gold medals in any category in all three years of Tai Chi competition in the Florida Senior Games.
Wong Yee also added a Weapons Advanced Gold Medal and a Sword Advanced gold medal.
Joining the Florida Senior Games roster of events in 2018 was Dominoes, as it was contested at the St. Lucie Cricket & Sports Association, in Port St. Lucie. George Sherman won the tournament, which was based on the “accumulated scores principle,” applied throughout the tournament. All players competed in seven rounds during the day’s competition.
Ulerich Branch took second place, while Hermon Bent finished third and Owen Jureidini came in fourth place.
Day Two of the 2018 Florida Senior Games, presented by Humana, features eight more swimming events at The Long Center, Doubles Shuffleboard, Championship Singles Tennis Matches at Innisbrook Resort, continued play in singles and doubles Racquetball at Richey Racquet and singles Bowling at the Seminole Lanes.
The 2018 Florida Senior Games, presented by Humana, is an annual presentation of the Florida Sports Foundation, the state’s leading sports promotion and development organization and are held in conjunction with Visit St. Pete Clearwater and the City of Clearwater.