Local two-sport athlete wins gold at Senior Games

Hoquiam’s Gretchen Klein wins women’s golf gold, joins Women Warriors team that placed fifth

By Ryan Sparks • August 5, 2023 1:30 am
SUBMITTED PHOTO Hoquiam’s Gretchen Klein won the gold medal after winning the Women’s 60-64 golf competition at the Senior Games on Wednesday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
SUBMITTED PHOTO Hoquiam’s Gretchen Klein won the gold medal after winning the Women’s 60-64 golf competition at the Senior Games on Wednesday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Local athlete Gretchen Klein brought home a gold medal after placing atop the leaderboard at the 2023 Senior Games July 31-Aug. 2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Competing in the women’s 60-64 golf competition, Klein shot the three lowest rounds of the competition to win the event at the Montour Heights Country Club in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania.

Playing on a short yet demanding course that featured narrow fairways and multiple traps and obstacles, the Hoquiam resident shot an 81 (plus-9) in her first round to open a five-stroke lead and followed that performance with a 78 in Round 2, the lowest round of any woman across any age group at the course.

Klein wrapped up her gold-medal performance with a 79 in the final round for a total of 238, winning by 18 strokes over Florida’s Darlene Allen and Michigan’s Kathryn Stellema, who tied for second at 256.

“It was not a long-yardage course, but it had pretty tight fairways, a lot of bunkers and the greens had a lot of breaks and hills. They were a challenge,” Klein said of the course. “It was more about playing smart. It wasn’t just hit it long and go for it. I think I only hit my driver on four holes. It was a lot of strategy shots, hitting something less than a driver to keep the ball in play.”

Klein was a two-sport athlete at the games as she also competed on the local Women Warriors basketball team that placed fifth overall in the women’s 60-64 Division 2.

The Women Warriors opened the tournament with a 32-30 win over the Steel City Hot Shots (Pennsylvania) before falling to the Swish Sisters (California) 34-28 in the second round.

In the consolation bracket, the Women Warriors defeated Still Got Game (California) 33-27 followed by a 38-32 victory over Endo (Maine) to place fifth overall.

The Women Warriors 50-plus team lost its two games to place ninth in its division.

Klien, who won a silver medal with the Women Warriors at last season’s Senior Games in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, figured she’d try to compete in the golf competition this season if time allowed.

“I thought if I’m going to (the basketball tournament), let’s see if I can do golf also, if the times didn’t overlap,” she said. “It actually worked out perfectly.”

Klein added the team is called the Women Warriors and wears hot pink due to five players being breast-cancer survivors and five have lost a spouse.

“We want to send the message that we can all get through bad times,” she said. “We are there to support each other and carry on.”

Anyone 50-and-over interested in joining the Women Warriors can call or text 360-581-6432.

SUBMITTED PHOTO The Women Warriors basketball team sent two teams (pictured) to compete at the 2023 Senior Games in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pictured are (from left): Gretchen Klein, Tanya Bowers-Anderson, Julie Opel, Sue Kalama, Kim Fogo, Rhonda Ham, Ann Peterson, Janet Graham, Denise Anderson, Alice Charley-Morris, Fran Eide, Karla Smith (kneeling).

SUBMITTED PHOTO The Women Warriors basketball team sent two teams (pictured) to compete at the 2023 Senior Games in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pictured are (from left): Gretchen Klein, Tanya Bowers-Anderson, Julie Opel, Sue Kalama, Kim Fogo, Rhonda Ham, Ann Peterson, Janet Graham, Denise Anderson, Alice Charley-Morris, Fran Eide, Karla Smith (kneeling).