October, 2009, Cheer News & Views

DSO Sports News

By Marion Lisehora mlisehora@mchsi.com

Delaware Senior Olympics Annual Games: The games will continue through the month of October. To keep up with the schedule and results, visit http://www.delawareseniorolympics.org frequently and see what is happening.

Gala Social Event: A fall celebration will be held at the Modern Maturity Center in Dover on November 1, 2009, with a 5 p.m. Social Hour and Cash Bar. Dinner will be at 6 p.m. Make reservations now for only $18.00 per person by mailing your check to Delaware Senior Olympics, 1121 Forrest Ave, Dover, DE 19904.

Men’s NSGA Softball: The Delaware Stars 65s won the championship title in the Senior Men's National Softball Tournament in Sunnyvale, Calif., in August. The team reached the final round with a 3-1 record in pool play. After losing 21-18 in the opener of the best-of-three championship series against Central New Jersey, the Stars bounced back to win 8-0 and 12-6.

Men’s NSGA Volleyball: Two men's 70s teams from the DSO men's volleyball qualifying games in 2008, Spike Force 70s and MAC 70s,  combined by taking 4 players from each team to form a MAC 70s team to compete in Palo Alto in the National Senior Games, the Summer Senior Olympics. Leo Buscher from Maryland was injured and unable to participate, so that left only 7 players. After winning their first 8 sets, MAC 70s lost 2 sets to MAC Magic. In the play-offs, they defeated the Colorado Highlanders and then lost to MAC Magic. They had to play Colorado again, but they lost 2-1 to a team they had defeated in two previous matches, and they had to settle for the bronze medal behind MAC Magic (gold) who defeated the Highlanders (silver) in the championship match. 

Men’s DSO Volleyball: The men’s tournament was held on September 12 at A.I. duPont H.S. in Greenville. The PA Spike Force 50s team won 11 of 12 sets to take top honors, overcoming the handicaps given to older teams in all but one set against the MAC 70s team. The MAC 70s took second place winning 9 sets, losing only 2 sets to the 50s team and one to Spike Force 65s. All three teams earned gold by being the only team in their age division. Delaware Diamonds and Berks Pioneers played the only match between teams of the same age, with the Diamonds winning handily in straight sets 2-0. This earned them the gold, with the silver going to Berks Pioneers. Finally the Stingers 75s (that's right - all players 75 or older!) fought hard to earn their gold, while winning only one of their twelve sets against the younger teams. 

Women’s DSO Volleyball: the Women’s tournament on September 13 was also held at A.I. duPont H.S. Twelve teams competed in 5 age groups. In the 50s age group the overall gold, silver and bronze winners were Lokahi (PA), Net Results (PA) and Spike 4-U (VA) respectively. For the Delaware 50s teams the gold, silver and bronze went to SNAP, Rough Edges and Just-Do-It. In the 55s age group the Delaware Quick Chicks took gold, while the Delaware Dune Diggers claimed silver. In the 60s the gold medal went to the Delaware Lady Wonders. Snap, Crackle, Pop (MD) edged the Delaware Small Wonders to take the overall gold in the 65s, while the Small Wonders still earned the Delaware gold. The only 70s team, Delaware First Staters, automatically received the 70s gold medal. However, it was placed in pool play against 5 younger teams, and surprised everyone by winning 9 out of 10 sets against the 55s, 60s and 65s to finish with the best record in the pool!

Cycling: On August 8, DSO cyclists Carol Tasca, Marcia Cloud, Jo Johnson, Suzanne Cavanaugh and Bob Carroll rode in the 2nd Annual Memorial Benefit Mike Clark Conquer the Hills ride. John Spieker won his age division in the Mt. Washington Auto Road Hill Climb. It is known as the steepest race in the world. Jo Johnson competed in the Maryland Senior Games, taking first place in her age group in both the 10K and the 20K TT (part of the MABRA Championship TT).

Walking: DSO cyclist Marcia Cloud is forming a team, Cloudwalkers, to walk in the annual eracingtheblues 10k run/5krun/walk on Oct. 25 in honor of one of our reliable marshalls for our road races, Chris Merkl. Chris passed away last spring. He had been a dedicated marshall for the past 4 or 5 years. For information on how to register, etc., go to www.eracingtheblues.org.   

Delaware Stars: The Delaware Stars won the championship title in the Senior Men's National Softball Tournament in Sunnyvale, Calif., in August. Front, from left: Frank Taverno, Bob Thomas, Jim McCay, Frankie Truitt, Ron Rutter and Bill Hankins. Back, from left: Bucky Speaks, Calvin Freedman, Bob Grier, Chick Leeper, Jerry Keller, Leon Taylor and Bill Rylee.

MAC 70s: NSGA volleyball bronze medal winners in Palo Alto. Back: Pete Buongiovanni, Denny Moore, Herb Simon, Jim Allen and Bob Reilly. Front: Phil Klabunde, Taylor Buongiovanni and Bob Annen.

Volleyball Blocking: Number 7 from SNAP wearing light shirt blocks number 7 from Net Results wearing blue shirt.

Volleyball Spike: Lucy Strauss of the Delaware Rough Edges goes up for a Spike at the DSO Volleyball State Tournament. L to R: Judy Lesher, Lucy Strauss, Maggie McNeil, Janis Dillard, Jackie Shahan and Becky Simpson.