Sean Betz Wins Costa Mesa Highland Games
by Randall J. Strossen, IronMind Enterprises, Inc. © 2009
Sean Betz held on for the win at the Costa Mesa Highland Games, where some big throws fired up the fans. Francis Brebner filed this report with IronMind®:
2009 Costa Mesa Highland Games - Day Two
by Francis Brebner
The second day of heavy events competition at Costa Mesa saw some huge throws by the professional athletes, which thrilled the crowds.
In the 16-lb. open stone, Rusty Price stole the show with a winning distance of 54’ 8”; in second place was Mike Pockoski with 53’ 10” and in third was Ryan Vierra with 52’ 6”. With extra attempts, Rusty upped his distance to 56’ 6”.
On the 28-lb. weight for distance, Sean Betz was in a league of his own, blasting out a winning throw of 83’ 5”; with extra attempts he increased this distance to 88’ 5”. In second was place was Larry Brock at 82’ 10”, and in third was Vierra at 81’ 6”.
Going in to the final scoring event of the day, the 20-lb. sheaf toss, it was the mighty Dave Brown who satisfied the height-hungry crowd with a winning height of 30’; second and third equal were Sean Betz and Andrew Hobson at 28’.
In the California State Challenge Caber Championships, with an 18’-11”, 115-lb. caber, Mike Pockoski was the star with three 12 o’clock tosses. In second place was Brock and in third, Dave Brown.
The overall points were as follows:
1. Sean Betz 23.5
2. Mike Pockoski 32.5
3. Dan McKim 35
4. Ryan Vierra 35
5. Larry Brock 42
6. Dave Brown 45
7. Rusty Price 51.5
8. Andrew Hobson 59.5
In the women’s division, Mindy Pockoski had a clean sweep in all events and came very close to establishing two new world records in the weight over the bar and the light weight for distance.
In the master’s category, Vern Alexander set a new world record in the 42-lb. weight for distance with a throw of 35’ 5”, beating the old record set by himself last year by 4”.