Perfect Games, Photo Finishes and Record-Breaking Performances Highlight Saturday at the Florida Senior Games

Tom Fargis, of The Villages, closed out his three-game Men’s Doubles Series with the seventh perfect game in the 33 years of the Florida Senior Games.

His perfecto came in the third game of the Men’s Doubles 70-74 age group competition. He improved every game starting with a 189, followed by a 256 score and finally, 300, for a three-game total of 745.

The effort propelled he and his partner, Dennis Farris, also from The Villages, to the gold medal. The duo was three pins shy of breaking the age group record of 1396, set by Gerald Teel and Ed Fenstermacher, in 2019.

Fargis (pictured at right) and Farris have been teaming together in the Florida Senior Games since 2016 and have won four Men’s Doubles Gold Medals since then.

Paul Shuler, of Clearwater, was the first overall finisher in the combined Florida Senior Games/Lake Jovita Reindeer Run 5K Road Race with a time of 18.54.6. It was the second consecutive year Shuler was the top overall finisher in the Florida Senior Games 5K Road Race. He set a 55-59 age group record in 2023, with a time of 18:23.84.

The top overall female finisher was Euleen Josiah-Tanner, from Atlanta, GA, with a time of 20:52.10 to earn the gold medal in the 50-54 age group.

Both Shuler and Josiah-Tanner were top finishers in the 2023 USATF Masters 5Km Cross Country Championships, held last October, in Boca Raton.

Setting a new record in the 85-89 age group was Dennis Johnson, of Melbourne, with a time of 33:02.5, topping Gordon Johnson’s time of 33:11, in 2003.

Johnson will be lacing up the running shoes again on Sunday and competing in all six running events at Brandon High School.

On the courts at the Zephyrhills Shuffleboard Club was the most experienced athlete of the 2024 Florida Senior Games. George Darwin, 99-years old, from Zephyrhills, won a gold medal in the Men’s Singles 95-99 age group.

Darwin is only the third Shuffleboard 95%2B age group athlete to compete in the Florida Senior Games since 1994. He joins Paul Ayotte, of Clearwater (2017 and 2018), and Roger Gentilhomme (100%2B in 2009), of Dunedin, in the exclusive club.

In the Field Events held on the first of two days of Track and Field competition, at Brandon High School, 10 age group records were established or broken.

The Florida Senior Games Ageless Wonder, Ethel Lehmann, of Largo, established age group records in the 95-99 age group in the Javelin Throw, Long Jump, High Jump and Triple Jump.

Lehmann, the 1997 FSG Female Athlete of the Year, becomes only the second female track and field athlete to reach the 95-99 age group in the Florida Senior Games, joining Lillian Webb, who set the age group shot put and discus records in 2010.

Joining Lehmann as former Athletes of the Year in record-setting performances were Brian Hankerson, from Hollywood, and Peggy Peck, of The Villages.

Hankerson, the 2018 Male Athlete of the Year, set his fourth age group record in the Long Jump with a leap of 15-07.25, for the 65-69 age group record. He also holds the three previous age group records, dating back to 2010.

The 2019 Female Athlete of the Year, Peggy Peck, set the Women’s 70-74 age group shot put record with a throw of 26 feet, breaking the previous record by a foot, set in 2008, by Evelyn Wright, of Safety Harbor.,

At the Cycling 20K and 40K Road Races, the top overall finishers battled it out to the finish line with Timothy Ballenger, of The Villages, edging Edward Ekstrom, from Sebring in both races.

In the 20K, Ballenger’s win was by a spoke at .001, as he crossed the finish line with a time of 32:03.29, while Ekstrom’s time was 32:03.30. In the 40K, Ballenger finished at 1:02:41.65 while Ekstrom was right behind at 1:02:41.88.

Among the women’s cyclists, Karla Antonio, of Stuart, was the top finisher in the 20K with a time of 35:14.02, while the 40K top women’s finisher, was Kathy Petrillo, of Jupiter, the 2016 FSG Female Athlete of the Year, with a time of 1:12:48.38.

Antonio and Petrillo both set age group records in the Time Trials events last weekend.

The 2024 Florida Senior Games, presented by Humana, comes to a conclusion on Sunday with Bowling, Shuffleboard and Track and Field events.

Schedule for Sunday, December 15
Shuffleboard (Doubles), Zephyrhills Shuffleboard Club, 9:00 a.m.
Track and Field (Running Events), Brandon Hiigh School, 9:15 a.m.
Bowling (Men’s and Women’s Singles), Pin Chasers, Zephyrhills, 10:00 a.m.

Over 2,400 athletes, age 50 and over, have been in competition since December 2 in Florida’s Sports Coast/Pasco County, Alachua, Pinellas and Polk Counties.