SENIOR OLYMPICS
The 45th Summer Games kick off Wednesday
People interested in watching their friends and relatives compete in the Senior Games in Las Cruces are welcome to all events at no charge.
The Las Cruces Convention Center will hold cornhole and shuffleboard competition, the New Mexico State University Activity Center will have basketball shooting, pickleball and Frisbee, and the Field of Dreams will hold track and field events.
Almost 800 competitors ages 50 and older will be congregating in Las Cruces when the 45th installment of the New Mexico Senior Olympic Summer Games kicks off on Wednesday.
It’s a highly social event that runs through next Sunday and, in some cases, can also prove a test of the competitors’ endurance.
Not only are New Mexico residents participating, but more than 100 athletes from 19 other states will also take part in the event, which offers 22 sports at 19 venues. The men and women will be grouped in five-year age brackets, starting with 50-54 through 95-and-older. The most senior Olympian is 98.
It’s quite a jump in participants compared with the 525 who were entered in last June’s Games.
Some folks will focus on one event, while others have seemingly filled their calendars with as many as possible.
The most popular sport in the Games is cornhole, with pickleball second. Among the other sports are badminton, cycling, powerlifting, golf, soccer accuracy, swimming and tennis. The largest contingent of entrants falls in the 65-69 age bracket, with 70-74 next.
The goal for many of the participants is to finish in the top four in an event, which would qualify them for the next National Senior Olympic Games in Tulsa, Oklahoma next summer.
One guy who’s getting his money’s worth this week from the $60 entry fee, which covers five sports, is A. Glenn Gardner, a chiropractor from Albuquerque. He signed up to compete in Frisbee toss (accuracy, distance), table tennis (singles, doubles) and a host of track events for a grand total of 15 competitions.
Can it get any more grueling?<\/p>\n
Gardner, 52, will have a busy, busy Saturday morning at the Field of Dreams when he is scheduled to compete in seven running events in a four-hour window: First the 50-meter dash, followed by the 1,500, the 100, 200, 800, 400 and finally the 400 coed relay.
\u201cLast year I did everything but the 50 and by time I was in the 400 I was kind of dead,\u201d he said.
But he vows to do better this year thanks in part to his training with the New Mexico Track Club and Albuquerque Roadrunners.
\u201cI\u2019ve been running with them for 22 to 23 years,\u201d he said. \u201cThe longer distances are a little better for me. I ran a 5:33 mile at the nationals last year (in Des Moines, Iowa), which was great. I was just hoping to get under 6 minutes.\u201d
In 2025, Gardner was part of a gold-medal-winning doubles team in table tennis and took silver in singles. He also won both Frisbee events after a running coach encouraged him to give it a try.
\u201cThere was a Frisbee at the track where we were training and I threw it and the coach said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to do that\u2019 in the Games.\u201d Gardner did and won the accuracy and distance competitions.
Allen Trujillo of Espa\u00f1ola has been a Summer Games regular for the past quarter-century.
He will turn 75 next month and, like Gardner and many others, will have stacked running events from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, culminating in the 400 meters.
\u201cThis takes a whole lot out of you, but the whole idea is to know your limits,\u201d Trujillo said. \u201cFor instance, in the 1,500 meters, you slow down a bit and maybe walk a little. I do what I can.
\u201cI certainly don\u2019t want to get a heart attack or anything,\u201d he said with a chuckle.
\u201cI do all this to stay somewhat healthy and for the enjoyment of running.\u201d
Last year, Trujillo was in nine events and earned eight medals.
Albuquerque\u2019s Demetria Vasquez, who will turn 60 next month, will be in her ninth Summer Games. Keeping her company and competing with her will be her mother, 84-year-old Marlene Aragon in doubles shuffleboard, and 50-year-old sister Carlene Ljunggren in doubles cornhole.
In both cases the teams are entered in the age group of the youngest of the two.
\u201cMy mom has been with the Senior Olympics since 2012,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cI used to attend her Senior Games and support her and then, after retiring from the Army, I joined her.
\u201cShe had motivated me,\u201d said Vasquez, who first competed in 2018. \u201cAnd when I won the (shuffleboard) gold in the nationals in Albuquerque in 2019 I was hooked.\u201d
Vasquez also said she plans to run in the 1,500 meters.
The opening ceremonies are set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Las Cruces Convention Center. A health fair will be conducted at the center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.
There will also be a bowling event at the Santa Ana Star Casino in Bernalillo on July 22-24, with the entry deadline on June 24.
Entrants can compete in singles, doubles, mixed doubles and\/or team play at Starlight Bowling. To register, go to nmseniorolympics.org<\/a>.
And later this year, team sports will be contested: Volleyball in July in Albuquerque, softball in September in Las Cruces, and 3-on-3 basketball in Santa Fe in November.
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