Their growth has been steady, their time together enjoyable, their performances often spectacular.

The Butler County senior women athletic contingent, sponsored by the Butler Cubs, began with seven participants six years ago.

Earlier this month, the organization had 19 women return with 78 medals - including 32 gold - from the 2004 Pennsylvania State Senior Games at Shippensburg University.

"We want more," Carol McCollough of Chicora said. "We welcome more and more. So many people still know nothing about this."

The Senior Games are for individuals age 50 or older. They compete within their own age groups in five-year increments.

Activities offered range from basketball to horseshoes, shuffleboard to track and field events, bowling to table tennis.

McCollough said about 25 Butler County women are part of the Butler Cubs squad, with 60 women involved overall. Many come from Pittsburgh and surrounding counties.

"Most women join this and compete in a team event like basketball or volleyball at first," McCollough said. "Once they get to a competition, we encourage them to try different individual events as well.

"The Senior Games offer clinics on site to teach or help participants with sporting activities they may have never tried before," she said.

The Senior Games are growing statewide as well. More than 1,800 athletes competed this year at Shippensburg. In its 24-year history, the state Senior Games' previous record number of athletes was 1,250.This year's state Senior Games served as a qualifier for the 2005 National Games, scheduled for Pittsburgh June 3 through 18. Several Butler County athletes qualified for nationals by winning gold or silver medals at the state level."Because the national games will be held locally next year, a lot of people wanted to qualify," McCollough said .McCollough and Katherine Blair - both competing in the 60-and-over age group - were the area's biggest winners at the Games. McCollough won five gold medals, six silver and four bronze.Freeport resident Blair won eight gold medals, one silver and three bronze. Six of her gold medals were in swimming."Swimming has always been a big sport in my family," said Blair, who coached at the Freeport community pool for 15 years. "What's fun is trying other things. I tried the long jump the last two years and won, so I tried the high jump this year and won."

The Butler County seniors have six basketball teams and McCollough's husband, Don, coaches them all.Blair agreed with McCollough that the Senior Games are about much more than competition."You live together for a week in the dorms, no TV, radio or phones," Blair said. "We rarely got in a car, just walked or bicycled to where we had to go."Our Butler group occupied the entire third floor. Just visiting with each other, helping each other - it's a wonderful experience."It even has women looking forward to turning 50, such as Laura Link, Val Mueller and Debbie Bauman, all of whom competed with the seniors for the first time."It's like a whole new world has opened up," Link said. "I saw a 70-year-old man down in the blocks getting ready to run the 100-meter dash. There was a 97-year-old man playing shuffleboard and bocce."Everybody has aches and pains, you just compete at your own level. For the first time in my life, I'm excited to be 50."McCollough said she bowled with a 98-year-old man "who threw a 14½-pound and whose lowest game was 127."Link won gold medals in horseshoes and table tennis."Carol encouraged us to try different things," Link said. "I played horseshoes in honor of my mother, who used to play all the time."The Butler County women plan to buy uniforms and will raise funds to defray costs of the National Games.Anyone wishing to contribute, or join the group of senior athletes, can call McCollough at 724-445-3242.