In all, a total of 391 players participated, individually, in the Midwestern Pool Association/Minnesota ACS Pool Championships on the weekend of April 5-8. Hosted by the Treasure Island Casino in Red Wing, MN, the 8-ball event featured five divisional tournaments, from Master to C-class, and an equal number of divisional team tournaments, offering total prize payouts of over $40,000.

Felix Beardy was the $1,500, first-prize winner in the 23-entrant Master division, besting Jesse Engel 6-4 in the finals. Engel, after moving to the loss-bracket in the second round, won four straight to meet the man who sent him there, Danny Olson, in the semifinals. He prevailed there 6-5 to earn his shot versus Beardy.

In the 39-entrant double-A division, Josh Raines and Terry Miller battled it out in the finals. Raines dropped one match of three, overall, against Miller to claim the top prize of $900. The A division of the tournament drew 86 entrants and yielded Luvern Hanson as the winner. He defeated Randy DeGarmo 5-2 to claim the top $850 prize. 

The largest field of the event was in the B division tournament, which saw 122 entrants and was won by Nye Vang, over Duane Olson in the finals. The C division, with one less entrant than the B division, was won by Nick Elwell, over Mick Westeng in the finals.

The five teams taking home top divisional prize money were The Leftovers (with Felix Beardy) in the Master/AA division (15 teams), Shars in the A division (34 teams), Just Out of Luck in the B division (46 teams) and Fantom Cue Kids and Dads in the C Division (35 entries).

Master

1st Felix Beardy $1,500

2nd Jesse Engel $1,000

3rd Danny Olson $600

4th Dustin Gunia $400

5th Josh Burbul $200

Michael Perron, Jr. 

AA

1st Josh Raines $900

2nd Terry Miller $700

3rd Chad Johnson $550

4th Weston Broad $400

5th Terry Bloomquist $250

7th Rich Blauer $150

Paul Conley

A

1st Luvern Hanson $850

2nd Randy DeGarno $650

3rd Bob Williams $500

4th Jesse Bastyr $400

5th Chris Edmund $300

Tyler Stich

7th Tony Miller $200

Chuck Myers

9th Rich Ciponi $150

Kerry Kavanaugh

Mickey Rowland

Darrin Seifert

13th Scott Gunnufson $100

Glenn Henrikson

Jim Whittle

B

1st Nye Vang $700

2nd Duane Olson $700

3rd Kai Smed $450

4th Ryan Peterson $350

5th Brian Karsjens $250

Rick Morrison

7th Sam Matuska $180

Richard Zahnow

9th Todd Humberg $140

Jake Kayser

Dan King

Cory Schuh

13th Adam G. Christie $100

Will Lapointe

Tim Moe

Jon A. Stueve

C

1st Nick Elwell $750

2nd Mick Westeng $550

3rd Jamie Werner $420

4th Eric Sylvester $315

5th Mr. Richard Dreyling, Jr. $230

Todd Weller

7th Todd Richard $160

Chad Hanson

9th Denise Kellen $120

Gabe Sallander

Tammy Schultz

Craig Stickfort

13th Josh M. Fox $100

Bob Iverson

April Larson

Robert Royal

Felix Beardy, Scott Tollefson and Jeri Bouvette won the 8-ball, 9-ball and Ladies tournaments, respectively, of the 13th Annual Northern Lights Shootout, held from December 1-4 at the Rugby Armory in Rugby, ND. All three winners were forced into the second set of true double elimination finals by their respective opponents. The $3,750-added main 8-ball event drew 74 entrants. The $300-added 9-ball event drew 32, while 10 women competed in the $725-added Ladies event. 

In his first visit to this Northern Lights Shootout, Tollefson, playing in the 9-ball event, advanced to the hot seat, by sending his eventual finals opponent, Sean Monkman, to the semifinals. There, Monkman ran into Jarrod Spence, who’d been sent to the loss-side in the second round of play, and worked himself all the way back to finish in third place. Monkman returned and in the opening set of the finals, forced a final, double hill game, which he won. In the second set, Tollefson took command to complete the 9-ball event with a 7-3 win.

In the Ladies event, Jeri Bouvette defended the title she had won last year with a second set victory over Rachael Nadeau. Sam Matuska finished third and Joan Jacobs finished fourth. 

In the main 8-ball event, it was Jesse Engel, who forced hot seat occupant Felix Beardy into a second set in the finals. Both had been among the winners’ side final four, but Engel was moved west by Dean Flanders 6-3, as Beardy moved into the hot seat match with a 6-2 victory over Kenny Azure. Beardy downed Flanders 6-4 to gain the hot seat, and awaited Engel’s return.

Engel moved over to pick up Danny Olson, who’d gotten by Dusty Geller, and then benefited from a forfeit by his own father, David Olson, who allowed the son to advance. Azure picked up Jeff Claire, who’d defeated Tyler Perry and Tom Kaminski. It was Engel and Claire advancing to the quarterfinals; Engel with a 6-2 victory over Olson, and Claire, 6-3 over Azure. 

Engel then survived a double hill battle versus Azure in those quarterfinals, and faced Flanders in the semifinals. Flanders took an early 4-0 lead, but Engel came back to win six in a row for a crack at Beardy. Engel took the opening set of the double elimination final 6-2, but managed only a single rack in the second set, won by Beardy to claim the event title.

A $745-added, 8-ball Hard Luck (or, Second Chance) tournament drew 44 entrants and was won, officially, by Fabian Louison. Louison and his potential finals opponent, Blair Lawson, opted out of a final matchup, and agreed to split the first and second place prize. Kevin LaLonde finished third, and Jeff Nadeau finished fourth.