October 2019

General October 31, 2019

Tying my record for Press Club awards and trying out Jeff Brower’s new records site

I tied my PR on Tuesday night. Not for the 100 or high jump, but for awards at the San Diego Press Club journalism contest. First in 2017 and again this year, I picked up 14 awards for a variety of posts on Times of San Diego, including a photo of indicted Rep. Duncan D. Hunter and a video of a crazy anti-LGBT trio from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka. As usual, some of my ribbons were for stories on masters athletes. I won second-place awards for my report on sprint great Colleen Barney competing on “American Ninja Warrior” and…

Wearing a neck brace after her most recent accident, Neni Lewis throws the weight at Sunshine State Games.

Records October 7, 2019

Neni Lewis beats injuries, own ultraweight pentathlon record at Sunshine State Games

I once called Masters Hall of Famer Neni Lewis “easily the greatest age-group thrower in history.” She also deserves her own Hall of Fame wing for injury comebacks. I told her story several times. In 2008, I wrote: “Lewis qualified for the Olympic Trials in 1980, 1984 and 1988 in the shot put. Her best chance to make the team was in 1988, when she was throwing close to 60 feet leading up to the trials. But her bid was cut short when a car accident injured her hip and back.” After one episode in 2012, she said: “I am…