The Nevada Senior Games were well attended by Pahrump seniors.
Three feisty senior swimmers and one sprinter, all from Pahrump, grabbed a handful of medals at the Nevada Senior Games on Oct. 7-15 in Las Vegas.
Each year in the fall in Las Vegas the Nevada Senior Games run in early October through mid-October. The games are now in their 38th year. Nearly 1,000 seniors participate in 21 events annually. The games now span from Sept. 10-Oct. 15.
The three swimmers, Susan Zink, at 67, her close friend, Debra Moore, 63, and Cathy Behrens, 75, have been training since the spring for their events and were more than happy with the results.
“They had a pretty good turnout,” Zink said. “One of the nicest things about this competition is the caliber of people involved. They come in all sizes and are not judgmental. The beauty of the senior games is it is not about winning. For all the swimmers, male or female, it didn’t matter how old you were. You could have been 100 and the point was you were out there off of your couch and not wishing you could be out here. You were actually doing.”
Zink is a firm believer that all seniors should get involved in something that gets them on their feet and moving.
“I like the games because of the attitudes I encounter,” she said. “Regardless of their backgrounds, people are of the attitude they can do things. And they don’t want to give up. There were older ones out there not letting their age hold them back and there were handicapped people there not letting their handicap stop them.”
Zink was happy to get silver medals in the breaststroke, the butterfly, and the 100-meter individual medley, and bronze in the crawl. All her medals were in the 65-69 division.
Moore was excited because she came home with gold her first time competing.
“I just learned to swim the backstroke,” she said. “I have never competed before.”
Moore got gold in the 200-meter backstroke and the 50-meter backstroke.
“I can’t wait to do this again,” Moore said.
Behrens said since this was her first time at the Nevada Senior Games, she only signed up for one event. In her first time out she got gold in the 50-meter freestyle.
The first-timer said it was good to be back in the pool. Like Moore, this was her first time competing with the Nevada Senior Games.
“I have been swimming since I was five-years-old,” she said. “This was very exciting and good, clean fun.”
Behrens said at first she wasn’t going to compete.
“I was afraid,” she said. “I had looked at all the times ahead of time and almost convinced myself that these people were too fast. But they weren’t. Everything is broken down by age divisions and maybe the 60-year-olds were too fast.”
Behrens said a lot of time went into this.
“It isn’t all about winning,” Behrens said. “But at the same time, I am a very competitive person. And I went into this with gusto. I swam two miles a week to get my strength going. I am definitely going to do this again.”
Pahrump sprinter gets gold at senior games
Pahrump 63-year old sprinter Marvin Caperton went to the Nevada Senior Games on Oct. 13 and 15 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas track and came away with two gold medals in the 50-meter run and the 100-meter run in the 60-64 division. The senior athlete is a former UCLA football wide receiver and track star who played football under Dick Vermeil.
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com