NATCHEZ — Rita Jones Tebbetts returned recently from the National Senior Games in Albuquerque with six top 10 finishes out of six swimming events she entered.

Tebbetts is a veteran, seven-time competitor of these bi-annual games presented by Humana that were June 14-25.

To tally up all the ribbons, Tebbetts finished with two fourth-place finishes, two fifth-place finishes, one eighth place and one ninth place in the 80-year-old group.

That might have been enough to make her three daughters envious. All three of her daughters converged on Albuquerque from different parts of the country — two daughters vowing to compete in 2021 and one daughter, who is only 40 years old will have to wait until the minimum age of 50 to dive into the competition.

Tebbetts said other sports there to compete in were track, ping pong, volleyball, basketball, shuffleboard and badminton.

“I have two daughters that want to compete in Ft. Lauderdale in 2021. My daughter Valerie Jones Patton, who lives in Sacramento California and Rosie Jones Nettles who lives in Brandon,” Tebbetts said.

The weather out west is a lot different than ours here in the Deep South, Tebbetts said.

“The weather is really dry so the heat is bearable,” Tebbetts said. “It was in the 90s, not humid like it is here, and it was very cool in the evenings, too.”

Even though they were swimming indoors, one age-group received preferential treatment.

“Swimming in the mornings are the 70-100-year-old age groups,” Tebbetts said. “They know mornings are best for us, because we all need a nap in the afternoons.”