Havre, Montana – Over this past week, Dr. Terence Hankins, Internal Medicine provider at the Northern Montana Specialty Medical Center, swam in the National Senior Games in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In all, he won six medals.
He won 1st Place in the Men’s 200 Individual Medley as well as the Men’s 400 Individual Medley. He also took 2nd in the Men’s 100 Backstroke and the Men’s 200 Backstroke. He finished 3rd in the Men’s 100 Freestyle as well.
On the last day of the competition he swam in the Men’s 500 yard Freestyle.
In his words, “I had a battle with 3 others: Luis Salazar from Washington. D.C., Todd Howe from Illinois, and John Witham from New Mexico. I eventually prevailed, dropping a whopping 39 seconds from my time just a month ago. My time was 6:13.9.”
In 1985 in St. Louis, MO, a group of seven men and women formed the original leadership for what was initially known as the National Senior Olympics Organization (NSOO). The vision: to promote healthy lifestyles for adults through education, fitness, and sport.
In the fall of 1985, they hosted a meeting of individuals who were currently conducting games for seniors in their 33 states. That group planned the first National Senior Olympic Games, held in 1987 in St. Louis. The games were a great success with 2,500 competitors. NSGA Member Organizations hold annual games with qualifying competitions in the year preceding The Games. Athletes that meet specific criteria while participating in the State Senior Games qualify to participate. To date, the NSGA has held 17 summer national championships.
Dr. Hankins’ sister, Kimberly Hankins-Kujawa, also swam in the games and won 6th in the Women’s 100-yard Individual Medley, 4th in the 50-yard Breaststroke, and 1st in the 100-yard Breaststroke. Dr. Hankins said, ” I’m so proud of Kim! We both worked so many hard hours in the pool to get to this point and it was such a wonderful day that we got to share together!”
Congratulations, Dr. Hankins! Way to represent Montana!
