Roger Saunders 2012 In-Season Log

**Alan H** · 2nd July 12, 02:10 PM

Oh, and Dennis Schultz is a Beast with a Capital "B".

**RogerWS76** · 2nd July 12, 02:43 PM

Thanks Kit and Allan! I hope i can make it a trend!

**RogerWS76** · 9th July 12, 10:36 AM

A very fun weekend at the Monterey Games.

Was able to compete in the California Team Championships with the NorCAl Highlanders! It was a mixed team of Amatuers, Woman and Masters in which all levels competed with the same distances while their own divisions weights may have been different.

We competed against the Orange County Highlanders from Southern California and the Cardinal Highland Athletic Club from the Bay Area. Our team was anchored by Chico State Throwers Coach Beth Burton who kept us in the hunt all day! Jon Enzenhauer from the Amatuer A Division, and Jess Thomas and Miguel Del Gallego from the Amatuer B Class held up their end of the Caber while this Old Master got to truck right along in the middle of the pack. That turned out to be the key for while Beth was constantly in the top 2-3, and John in the top five, the rest of us were able to stay right in the middle of the 13 thrower field and that helped us eek out a 5 point win overall.

We took an early 15-20 point lead in the Stones and Weights but then even though we had a couple of top throwers in the Hammers and Weight over the Bar we dropped to a 2 point deficit going into the final Caber Event. Beth started out strong throwing two 12:00s, then John E also layed down a 12:00 score but the rest of us struggled a little. My first two tosses didn't turn but I finally got a meager 10:45 and Miguel got a pretty good degree score to help us win the event by 7 points, giving us our final 5 point victory in the Inaguraul California State Team Championships!

It was really a sliver of a margin over the OC team whose top thrower had beaten the best scores of several of the pros on Saturday but it felt good to come out on top!!!

I had one 8.5 inch PR in the Heavy Weight for distance and it was just a fun day throwing and competing with a lot of old and new friends!

**RogerWS76** · 9th July 12, 11:04 AM

**RogerWS76** · 9th July 12, 11:08 AM

**Alan H** · 9th July 12, 06:14 PM

Great job by the whole team. It was clear as the day went on, that what was really going to win it was the depth of the team, not how big the "biggest" thrower could chuck it. I really like this format, and it seemed like everybody got into it. I'm going to try to do it again, next year!

**RogerWS76** · 20th July 12, 07:01 AM

A fun day at the Rattlesnake Glen getting ready for Flagstaff this weekend.

John Enzenhauer and Jake came by and we worked on WoB and Sheaf. JOhn and Jake are young guys and all I had was a 42 lbr for the WoB so we made a game out of it. We started at 10 feet for Jake so John and I decided to have a Left Handed shoot out. I got all the way up to 15 feet without a miss left handed. (Maybe I should switch). I won the left handed shoot out at 15 but when we switched back to right handed, John blew me away as I apparently did not have a 16 in me yet, even right handed. John, however climbed to 18 feet!!! Along the way when wee would miss after three throws we would go to the 28 and then to the 14. Jake made it up to 16 with the 28. I made it to 18 but we stopped there and preoceeded to sheaf.

Jake had never gotten over 16before with the sheaf but after a few drills he popped one at 18. WE worked on the violoent check mark with a equally violent block! John and I both topped 23 with my old 16 lb bag (which maybe 18 now as I have added an entire roll of Gorilla Duct tape) WE both hit the bar at 25 which was good after takeing 10-15 WoB throws and then about the same number of sheaf tosses including the blocking drills we did!

It was a fun day and not too hot as we have had a nice little cooling in the low foothills this week!

Flying down to Phoenix today to visit my Grandson and then driving up to Flagstaff to throw on Sunday!

**Alan H** · 20th July 12, 10:13 AM

Nice! It doesn't hurt the young guys to pull the 42 now and then....builds speed. Like, it doesn't hurt us to pull the 28'er once in a while, same reason.

Have fun in Arizona!

**o1d_dude** · 20th July 12, 06:10 PM

Have fun. Throw far!

**RogerWS76** · 23rd July 12, 03:19 PM

A very nice weekend in Arizona! Got to see my Grandson, Peyton; 6 Months and recovering very nicely from Open Heart surgery at 7 weeks. Got to visit with my daughter and son-in-law even though they were also celebrating thier anniversary! AND my son also drove into the area and threw in the Lightweight division on Sunday and came in 4th place!

We drove up to Flagstaff on Saturday. Got there in time for a huge rainstorm and to hear one of my favorite authors (Diana Gabaldon) preview her upcoming book. Acquired the requisite autograph on a book for my daughter!

Watched a few of my good friends in the Women's, A and B classes throw. Beth Burton dominated again in the Womens class!!! We all had dinner that night at the Lumberjack Brewery where I got to meet a few new friends as well!

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day with a few passing clouds and about 80 degrees!

Started it off right with a 2 inch PR in the Braemar Stone. Then got out past 34 in the Open.

Then we returned to the weight for distance. I had been working on changing my approach to this event but didn't feel quite comfortable with changing it in competition quite yet. However I did break a new PR out in the Heavy weight by close to two feet and came in just a couple of inches under my PR in the lightweight (Still over 50 again).

We threw the hammer next! The heavy hammer felt heavier for some reason and I fell a couple feet short of where I wanted to after 2 throws. Then, while I was on deck for my last throw I had turned to answer one of the guys questions when I heard "Lookout!!!". I ducked to the ground and covered my head with my arrns as I felt the stick end of the hammer scrape my right tricep while the tip of it made a bullseye on my right nipple (Sorry, not sure what else to call it). We were throwing on a baseball diamond wiuth the backstop as the "hammer cage". The thower was right handed and even at that "pulled it" down the third base line and right next to the fence where I was standing. I think it bounced first but I was very glad I had covered up with my arms as the point was merely inches from my eye.

Well it was my turn next and I though it wouldn't be a problem but in retrospect, I think it shook me up more than I thought. It took me about 3 starts and stops to actually throw the thing. I did not improve on my earlier throws and I think I should have taken them up on the offer to go to the back of the line for that throw. Oh well.

The Light hammer was next and oddly enough it felt as light as it ever has on the field. I started out with an 82+ toss, proceeded to an 83 and then got my head out of the way on the last one and hit a bit over 88 for another PR.

We did all of that BEFORE lunch with 14 guys in our group (an accomplishment in itself)! They gave us 40 minutes for lunch but even when we got back we had to waight abnother 45-60 minuted to get started again. Too long for me and my lower back started to get tight.

We did the Caber next and I got two turns at 1:30. I thought they were quite a bit better than that but the judge explained that I was turning at the last minute and that was throwing me off. Gonna have to try to practice that to fix it. Not really sure how it's happening but I think my son took a video of one of them so I will study that.

Next was the WoB and my right elbow and shoulder were feeling the effects of the earlier Hammer strike so I came in at 12, left handed, feeling some confidence having cleared 15 with my left hand earlier in the week. I was able to hit 12 and 13 on my first throws but 14 got me. By then my lower back was twinging a little too. (Wondering if throwing @ 7200 ft with depleted O2 levels has anything to do with fatigue; I had been very careful to stay hydrated ... I know this because the bathrooms were a LONG ways away ... Ha!) I missed three times with the old "up then straight down" issues! But ... it was good enough for 2nd place in the event ... kind of!

What I mean is that the Event, which was called the Southwestern Masters Chamopinship, included ALL of the Masters there from age 42-69. What they did was give you a handicap multiplier based on your individual age. The guy who was 42 got to muliply all of his scores by 1.02; while, I, at 51 in the middle of thepack got to multiply my score by 1.12! However, when we got to the 69 year old guy, his multiplier was 1.64! That turned his 9 foot WoB into a 14.76 throw for placing. If Vern Alexander had come he would have KILLED us ALL! Ha! Anyway, my 13 foot toss became a 14.56 which landed me in 4th place for the event. Fortunately when they put the scores in NASGA they put the real scores down even though they put the adjusted placings for the group.

As it was I threw well enough to place third overall while a 66 year old youngster named John Waugh placed second and Brent Abbot who SHOULD have won by his scores, overcame the handicaps to take first place!

Here are my final scores: