Des Moines, Iowa – Michele Preisser and Terence Faries competed in the National Senior Games at Iowa State University.
Preisser and Faries are regulars at the Cherokee & Clay Senior Games held locally every year. Each winning multiple medals at the local games qualified them a spot at the national event, as well as the state games later this year.
They were a part of the 633 athletes from North Carolina and 12,500 athletes who competed at the games from across the country. This was Presser’s first time competing at the national games and came home with two medals.
Her first event was the 1,500-meter power walk held on July 28. Despite the hot weather, she finished in second place, earning her the silver medal with a time of 9:58.71. Her time broke the national record in the 1,500M power walk 65-69 age group.
In her second event, she competed in the 5,000M power walk on July 29. Under hot conditions yet again, she broke the national record and brought home the silver medal with a time of 35:23.19.
Faries competed in the 2023 National Senior Games in Pittsburg and again this year in Iowa. He competed in the 50M and 100M dashes, as well as the long jump. This year he earned his first medal at the national games. With a jump of 12 feet, 1.75 inches, he earned the bronze medal.
In the 50M dash, he came in 11th place out of 30 entrants. In the 100M dash, he came in ninth place, just barely missing out on being in the final eight by a fraction of a second.
The N.C. Senior Games Finals will take place throughout September and October at various venues in the eastern part of the state.
A total of 33 participants of the Cherokee & Clay Senior Games and SilverArts signed up to compete in the state finals, 20 in sports and 14 in Silver Arts. Faries will compete in both, as he ran in track and field events and wood carving at the state finals.
Rick Alringer, Jan Findley, Ruth Harrell, Bart Harrison, Art Hubbard, Jon Jordan, Lucy Lovins, Cathy McNeely, Gary Preisser, Michele Preisser and Steven Stanley are heading to the sports state finals to compete in multiple events.
Also heading to the state finals in sports are Van Estes, Don Jones, Brian Kearney, Jerry Leslie, Jonnie Smith, Kenneth Thigpen and Jim Torchia.
Out of the 20 total Cherokee & Clay athletes competing, they will compete in 80 sports events across different sports and age groups.
Heading to the state finals for SilverArts are Sandy Benson, Chris Faries, John Gibney, Karen Haas, Anne Hastie, Janice Kirk, Brenda Ledford, Julie Lindsay, Carl Miller, Pamela Palma, Mary Ricketson, Steve Riedel and Debra Vanderlaan.
The Cherokee & Clay Senior Games will host a cornhole event at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, at the Rock Gym in Murphy.
They also intend to host more events in the coming months, including mini golf and shuffleboard in September, chili hotdog picnic and bocce ball in October and table tennis and air rifle target shooting in November
The Cherokee/Clay Senior Games will also participate in the annual Christmas parade in December.
Details: Email Terence Faries at cherokeeclaycosrgames@gmail.com.