‘We’ll be back next year’

The 2008 Mineral County Senior Olympics drew to a close Friday afternoon at Potomac State College, with Cy Dille of Weston repeating as Grand Champion for the second year in a row.
The 103 competitors garnered a total of 510 trophies and ribbons, testifying to the broad range of events held over the course of the four-day event. Broken down into several age categories for both males and females, awards were given for events ranging from horseshoes and golf-putting to scrabble and poker; basketball free-throw and archery to pie-baking and spelling bee.
Scott Mallery, executive director of the Mineral County Office on Aging and Family Services, which conducted the seventh annual games, presided over the awards ceremony. “It’s an exciting part of the week, but it’s also sad to see it end,” he told the crowd of seniors.
The awards ceremony began with distribution of smaller trophies, followed by a table full of gold ribbons affixed to bronze, silver and gold medals. By the end of the two-hour ceremony, most of the competitors found themselves in one more unscheduled event: ribbon-wearing.
In a testament to the group’s unflagging spirit, applause was just as strong at the beginning as at the end.
“OK folks, we’re down to three categories,” Mallery said. “Are you still having fun?”
“Yah!” came the collective, boisterous reply.
“I imagine your senior centers at home were dull this week, because you’re all the best,” Mallery told the assembled seniors.
Distribution of the smaller trophies and ribbons built up toward the climax of the day, shining silver and blue in a half-dozen large trophies arrayed on the front table. Men‘s and women’s trophies were awarded for third, second and first-place,  based on a point system for how the competitors placed in each event. “If you want to compete for these, you’re going to have to enter every category you can,” Mallery said.
After running through the rest of the awards, it came down to Dille and Bill Lyon of Keyser as the top two competitors vying for the 3-foot-tall Grand Champion trophy. Mallery said the two were even entering Friday’s final morning event, bowling. Lyon failed to place, Dille took two points for the silver, and that proved the difference.
“It was about the same last year,” a smiling Lyon said of his narrow defeat. “I love it. I entered baking, crafts, the athletic events, all of it.”
Dille will now have to make space in his Lewis County home for a second massive trophy. “It’s great,” the 88-year-old athlete said while being congratulated by his fellow senior olympians. “It’s just been a lot of fun.”
Tucker County won the trophy for best county banner.
More than just the athletic competition, the Senior Olympics offered participants a chance to make new friends and socialize. Most of the competitors stayed on campus in the new student dorms at Potomac State.
“The rooms are wonderful, we had very nice accommodations,” said Myrtle Wilhelm of Kingwood. “The college is very nice. Everything was so clean.”
The Mineral County Senior Olympics trace their origin to games that were once held in Buckhannon. The Mineral County Office on Aging would send two busloads of competitors to those games, and when the Buckhannon event ended in 1999 because of funding problems, Mineral County took over in 2001.
Unlike the nationally affiliated senior olympics being held in Charleston in two weeks — games that are purely athletic in nature — the Mineral County games feature both athletic and socially oriented events.
The games are conducted through the joint efforts of the Office on Aging and Potomac State, as well as numerous volunteers. They are open to all seniors 55 and older, including those from Maryland and other surrounding states. This year’s contingent featured three competitors from Frederick, Md.
Mallery said the games will return in 2009. “We’ll be back next year,” he said. “Usually it’s the second week in June.”