It’s been a good year for Mike Davis, Jr., who’d already chalked up his best (recorded) earnings year since 2016, when he travelled to Maryland this past Thanksgiving Day weekend (Nov. 26-27) and competed in the MD State Bar Box 10-Ball Championships. He got sent to the loss side by his eventual opponent in the double elimination final, Tom Zippler, and defeated him twice in the double elimination final to claim the title. The $3,750-added event drew 86 entrants to Brews & Cues on the Boulevard in Glen Burnie, MD.
The battle for this title was, by close-match standards, fierce; 38% of the tournament’s last 18 matches (7) went double hill, including the hot seat match, semifinal and first set of the true double elimination final. Mike Davis’ campaign opened up with a double hill battle that he won over Scott Haas. Davis followed up with wins over Clint Clayton (4), Mike Saleh (4) and Steve Fleming (5), to arrive at his first match against Zippler, in one of the a winners’ side semifinals. Zippler’s path started out easy enough, with a shutout over Matt Broz, but grew increasingly competitive as he got by Tony Manning (2), Michael Miller (3), Roger Haldar (4) and then, had to battle Brett Stottlemeyer to double hill in a winners’ side quarterfinal that did send him (Zippler) to that first battle with Davis. In the meantime, Kevin West, working at the other end of the bracket, sent Garrett Vaughan (1), Steve Johnson (2), Bobby Pacheco (double hill) and Grayson Vaughan (4) to the loss side and drew Brandon Shuff in the other winners’ side semifinal.
West and Shuff locked up in a double hill battle that eventually did advance West to the hot seat match. He was joined by Zippler, who’d won his first (and, as it turned out, last) match against Davis 7-3. Zippler and West fought to double hill in that hot seat match, with Zippler prevailing and waiting in the hot seat for Davis’ return.
On the loss side, Davis would play three matches against three of the mid-Atlantic region’s (country’s) toughest competitors; in order, Shaun Wilkie, BJ Ussery, Jr. and then, Kevin West. Upon arrival, Davis faced Wilkie, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Brandon Shuff and then defeated Matt Krah 7-5 and Jeff Abernathy, double hill. Shuff drew BJ Ussery, who didn’t give up a rack through his first two winners’ side matches and then, was defeated by Thomas Haas 7-5. Ussery went on a six-match, loss-side winning streak to get to Shuff, which included the most recent eliminations of Steve Fleming, by shutout, and, junior competitor Nathan Childress, double hill.
Davis defeated Wilkie 7-4 and in the quarterfinals, faced Ussery, who’d given up just a single rack to Shuff. Davis ended Ussery’s loss-side streak at seven, downing him 7-2 in the quarterfinals before he and West locked up in the second-to-last double hill battle of the tournament, struggling for a seat in the finals.
Davis prevailed and walked right into the last double hill battle of the weekend in the opening set of the true double elimination final against Zippler. He won it and then, came within a game of a second double hill match, before getting out ahead and finishing it 7-5.
It should be noted that the event was attended by a number of female competitors, veterans of the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour, most of them, including its tour director, Linda Shea, who went 2-2, finishing in the tie for 25th. The two highest female finishers were Tina Malm, who won three on the loss side before encountering Brett Stottlemeyer in the winners’ side fourth round, battling him to double hill before being sent to the loss side and finishing in the tie for 17th with a 3-2 record. And Bethany Sykes, who finished in the same position; sent to the loss side in the second round and winning two there, before being eliminated. Eugenia Gyftopoulos and Stefanie Manning also competed.
The event also featured a few junior competitors, among them Nathan Childress, who finished in the tie for 7th/8th, Brent Worth (25th) and Garrett Vaughan (33rd).
Tour director Loye Bolyard thanked the ownership and staff at Brews & Cues for their hospitality, as well as sponsors AlleyKat Cue Sports, Bull Carbon, AZBilliards, Aramith Balls, Simonis Cloth, TAP Chesapeake Bay Region, Safe Harbor Retirement Planners and Whyte Carbon Fiber Cue Shafts.
Hollingsworth adds ProAm title, Mast adds 13U final event and 13U Championship
It was quite a weekend for two of the top names in the pool world of junior competition. There were seven total events at the last regular season stop (#8) on the Junior International Championship (JIC) series, held last weekend (Sept. 23-25) at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA. Between them, Landon Hollingsworth and Sofia Mast won five of them; Hollingsworth, chalking up the win in the 18U Boys and ProAm divisions, as Mast (just a little busier) won both the 18U & 13U Girls titles and then went on to win the 13U Championship event, which was run concurrently with that division’s final regular season competition. Mast did not compete in the other division (ProAm) for which she was eligible, but given the strength of her performance in the three for which she was eligible, there was idle speculation that she might have taken that title as well.
Along the way, in the finals of her three events, Mast faced and defeated two members of the Tate family (Bethany in the 18U Girls division and her sister, Noelle in the 13U Girls division) and her perennial rival in both female divisions, Skylar Hess, in the 13U Girls championship. Bethany Tate (17th) and Hess (13th) were among the seven young women who competed in the ProAm event, along with Savanna Wolford, Courtney Hairfield (13th), Kennedy Meyman (17th), Skylynn Elliot (17th) and Precilia Kinsley (17th).
The ProAm event, the last of the 2022 JIC season, drew the weekend’s largest field (27) and seemed destined to feature a battle or two between the top two competitors in the division’s standings; Joey Tate and Landon Hollingsworth, who, between them, had won six of the division’s eight events, including the last one, won by Hollingsworth. But a funny thing happened on the way to the event finals. Tate was sent to the loss side in a winners’ side quarterfinal battle versus Brent Worth (7-5) and lost his first match on that side of the bracket to Grayson Vaughan 7-5.
Hollingsworth’s undefeated path to the hot seat and finals was not an easy one. It started out well, with 7-1 victories over two of the seven females in the field, Bethany Tate and Skylynn Elliott. It moved on from there to successive double-hill battles versus Jayce Little in a winners’ side quarterfinal and Nathan Childress in a winners’ side semifinal, which put Hollingsworth into the hot seat match. Jas Makhani in the meantime, who’d sent Brent Worth to the loss side immediately after Worth had sent Joey Tate over, joined Hollingsworth in the hot seat match. Hollingsworth, apparently tired of having to play two successive double hill matches, gave up only a single rack to Makhani and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, Logan Whitaker, who’d lost his opening round match to Payne McBride, embarked on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the finals against Hollingsworth. He’d recently defeated Cameron Hollingsworth (Landon’s brother), double hill and Grayson Vaughan 7-3 to draw Nathan Childress. Worth drew Hayden Ernst (eventual winner of the 13U Boys division tournament), who’d defeated McBride, double hill, and Cole Lewis 7-5 to reach him.
Worth and Whitaker advanced to the quarterfinals, won by Whitaker 7-1, who advanced to down Makhani in the semifinals 7-5.
Whitaker, appearing in only his third ProAm event of the JIC series (previously 5th and 7th) gave Hollingsworth a run for his money in the finals. He came within a game of forcing a deciding 17th game. Hollingsworth claimed the ProAm’s last 2022 JIC title 9-7. He and Joey Tate, who finished 2nd and 1st, respectively, in the final ProAm standings were awarded entry fees to a Pro event of their choice. Tate will attend next month’s International Open in Norfolk, VA, while Hollingsworth opted to attend the Puerto Rico Open 10-Ball event in mid-November.
The expected matchup of the two top competitors in the 18U Boys division – Hollingsworth and Tate – happened in that division’s 23-entrant regular season finale, twice. Hollingsworth’s path to the finals took an unexpected turn when he lost his opening match in a double hill fight against Niko Konkel, who’d entered the tournament outside of the division’s top ten in the standings and finished in 5th place. It took Tate five matches to get into the hot seat. It took Hollingsworth eight loss-side matches to reach him in the finals.
Joey Tate got by Cole Lewis, Jas Makhani and Payne McBride to get into the hot seat match against Logan Whitaker. Runner-up in the ProAm event, which finished some three hours after the 18U tournament, Whitaker would figure prominently in this event, as well. Right after Konkel had sent Hollingsworth to the loss side, Whitaker sent him over and advanced through D’Angelo Spain and Brent Worth to reach the hot seat match against Tate. Tate claimed the hot seat 7-2, sending Whitaker to a semifinal matchup against Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth’s loss-side run faced its most serious challenge when Payne McBride, in his first loss-side match, forced a double-hill deciding match. Hollingsworth advanced to successfully navigate his rematch against Konkel in the quarterfinals 7-2 and then dropped Whitaker into third place 7-3 in the semifinals.
Anticipation of the final was probably stronger than the match itself. Hollingsworth downed Tate 9-4 to claim the last regular season event for the 18U Boys division. They’ll both be moving onto the 18U Boys Championship in Norfolk, VA at the end of the month.
Sofia Mast
Mast played in all three of the events she won, simultaneously
The “Pink Dagger,” Sofia Mast, struck three times on the weekend, winning the 13U Girls Championship at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, the 13U Girls regular season finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday and the 18U Girls title at 4 p.m. on Sunday. She went undefeated in all three, downing Skylar Hess in the finals of the first, Noelle Tate in the finals of the second and Noelle’s sister Bethany in the finals of the third.
In what proved to be her final title-claiming event, Mast faced and successfully navigated two double hill challenges, from Precilia Kinsley in the second round and Bethany Tate in the battle for the hot seat. Until she reached the hot seat match, Tate hadn’t faced an opponent who’d chalked up more than two racks against her, including her sister, Noelle, who chalked up that many in their winners’ side semifinal matchup.
Mast’s victory in the hot seat match sent Tate to the semifinals, where she ran into Courtney Hairfield, who chalked up two against her, as well. In the finals, when Mast chalked up her second rack, on her way to a title-claiming 9-5 victory, she had already won more games against Tate than all of Tate’s opponents combined.
As it happened, while Mast drew a lot of the weekend’s spotlight, it was Bethany Tate who ended up at the top of the 18U Girls division standings, significantly ahead of Mast in 2nd place. Tate won four of the division’s eight events, to Mast’s three; all in a row, including one in which she defeated Mast in the finals and two in which Mast finished in the tie for 5th place. Precilia Kinsley, Skylar Hess and Kennedy Meyman rounded out the division’s top five. Meyman won the only event that Tate and Mast, both of them competing, did not; the first, in January. They’ll all move on to Norfolk, where they’ll compete in the 18U Girls Championship, in the latter days of Pat Fleming’s 9-day International Open between October 28- November 5.
Ernst and Vondereau complete winners list on final regular season weekend
It was, for all five divisions of the Junior International Championships (JIC), sponsored by Viking Cues, the last stop of the 2022 regular season, which had begun in January and will conclude in early November for two of the five divisions. The 18U girls and boys divisions will compete in respective championship events as part of Pat Fleming’s International Open, the two tournaments scheduled towards the end (Nov. 3-5) of the week-long Open in Norfolk, VA.
This past weekend (Sept. 23-25), the ProAm division played its final event. The 13U boys and girls division did as well, but as had been done in the inaugural season, this entailed two separate events during the single weekend; the final event of the season and the division championships.
Competitors in the ProAm division were competing for the top two spots in the division standings at the end of the season, occupied at the end of the weekend by Joey Tate and Landon Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth won the final ProAm event of the season and Tate finished in the tie for 9th place. Tate, though, had won three of the division’s eight stops and been runner-up three times to finish at the top of the standings. Hollingsworth had won three, as well, but had only two runner-up finishes and three events at which he’d finished third or lower. The prize for the top two spots in the standings was an entry fee to a Pro event of the players’ choice. Tate will compete in the International Open at the end of the month and Hollingsworth opted for entry into the Puerto Rico 10-Ball Open in mid-November.
We’ll be reporting separately on the JIC’s last regular season events in the two 18U divisions and the final event of the ProAm division (look for that report elsewhere in our News section). For now, though, we will focus our attention on the four events that comprised the official end of the 13U girls and boys divisions. The two events in each division ran concurrently and in fact, the championship was over before the regular season came to an official end on Sunday afternoon.
The two younger divisions may be comprised of small human beings, but they sport some of the biggest hearts and are among the JIC’s most fierce competitors. Many of them compete in JIC (and regional) events outside of their age range and compete against the opposite sex in the JIC’s ProAm division.
Three of the younger division’s fiercest female competitors – Sofia Mast, Skylar Hess and Noelle Tate – would bring the last event of the 13U girls division to a three-way, three-match conclusion that would see them finish 1, 2 & 3 in both the final event and the standings. Though Mast won five of the eight regular events, including the final one this past weekend, she had not competed in one of them. Hess won three, including the one in which Mast did not compete, chalked up four runner-up finishes to Mast’s one and just did stay atop of the division standings with a third-place finish ahead of Mast and Noelle Tate in the last regular season event.
That last event, which drew 10 entrants got underway just after noon on Friday, Sept. 23 and by 5:30, the hot seat opponents had been determined. Mast had met and defeated Hess in a winners’ side semifinal, while Noelle Tate had sent Franki Spain to the loss side to join Mast in the hot seat match, scheduled for Saturday morning. Hess moved to the loss side and moving from Friday night to Saturday morning, shut out both Gia Fiore and in the quarterfinals, Franki Spain. On Saturday morning, as Hess was shutting out Franki Spain, Mast was battling and eventually defeating Tate to claim the hot seat. Hess and Tate each wanted a shot at Mast in the hot seat and a predictable double-hill, semifinal fight got underway to see which of them it would be. Tate prevailed. Mast claimed the event title with a second victory over Tate, 9-5.
The 13U Girls Championship, with its eight entrants, got underway on Saturday morning, while the division’s top three were still battling in the season’s last stop. Mast and Hess, from opposite ends of the bracket, came together in the only two places possible, hot seat and finals. Noelle Tate had the misfortune of drawing Mast in the opening round of play and was sent to the loss side immediately 7-3. Mast and Hess advanced, sending Taylor Perkins and Arianna Houston to the loss side, respectively, by the same 7-2 score and squared off for their first meeting, battling for the hot seat. Mast gave up a single rack to claim it.
On the loss side, Tate had survived a double hill match versus Houston, only to be stopped by Perkins in the quarterfinals 7-4. Perkins battled Hess in the semifinals to a game away from double hill before Hess edged ahead to earn yet another shot at Mast. Mast claimed the division’s championship with a 9-6 victory over Hess in the finals.
Ernst wins second 13U title, as Vonderau, thanks to Makhani, loses his first
Like the girls event, the 13U Boys division’s final regular season event and the division Championships happened more or less simultaneously. Entering the regular season final with its 13 entrants, Eddie Vondereau had yet to lose any of the four events in which he had competed. Jas Makhani had not won any of the events in which he had competed, but having competed in all but two of the eight, and emerging as the runner-up in this latest one, he amassed enough standings points to finish second in the standings. It was Hayden Ernst, however, who’d won the event once before, in March, who emerged from the field to send Vondereau to the loss side in a winners’ side semifinal and then down Makhani in the finals to claim his second title. Ernst finished fourth in the division standings.
Vondereau and Makhani met first in the opening round, with Vondereau sending Makhani to the loss side 7-3. Vondereau advanced to the winners’ side semifinal, where Ernst, in a double hill fight, sent him to the loss side for a rematch against Makhani. Ernst won a second double hill battle, against Jayce Little, to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Makhani was working on a six-match, loss-side streak that would take him all the way to the finals. Along the way, he was offered a chance at redemption when he became the first competitor Vonderau faced on the loss side. He earned that redemption with a 7-4 rematch win, downed D’Angelo Spain 7-4 in the quarterfinals and survived a double hill match against Little in the semifinals. His quest for a first 13U Boys title was derailed by Ernst 9-3 in the finals.
In the 10-entrant division Championship, Vondereau went undefeated. He downed Makhani 7-3 in a winners’ side semifinal and claimed the hot seat over Timmy Cossey, appearing in his 6th event, 7-3.
On the loss side, Makhani lost his first match 7-5 to Landen Dunlap, as Grayson Vaughan was busy downing D’Angelo “Jawz” Spain by the same score. Vaughan shut Dunlap out in the quarterfinals and Cossey in the semifinals. He came within a game of forcing a 17th deciding match in the finals against Vondereau, who edged out in front to win 9-7 and claim the 13U Boys Championship title.
In what will be his last year as a junior competitor, Brent Worth, already 18, is making as much of that final year as he can. He’s competed in six of the seven 18U Boys (best finish, 5th) and ProAm (best finish, 4th) divisions of the Junior International Championships thus far, finished 5th in the Dynaspheres Cup Junior 9-Ball Open in March and just this past weekend, Saturday, Sept. 10, won eight on the loss side and double-dipped hot seat occupant, Stevie McClinton, to win his first regional tour event on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. The $500-added event drew 44 entrants to The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
Worth moved to the loss side in the second round of play, losing 5-3 to Greg Vaughan, whose son, Grayson, competed as well and did better than his father did. In the meantime, McClinton and DJ Brads advanced to their respective winners’ side semifinals; McClinton versus Scott Roberts and Brads against Cameron Lawhorne.
McClinton downed Roberts 7-6 (Roberts racing to 8) and was joined in the hot seat match by Brads, who sent Lawhorne to the loss side 6-3. McClinton claimed the hot seat over Brads 7-2.
On the loss side, playing in the first money round of the tournament, it was Lawhorne who picked up Worth, five matches into his loss-side winning streak, having recently eliminated Thomas Sansone 6-1 and Robert Cuneo, double hill. Roberts drew Collin Hall, who’d recently defeated Jimmy Bird, double hill and Grayson Vaughan by shutout.
Worth, picking up some speed at this point, gave up only a single rack to Lawhorne and advanced to the quarterfinals against Roberts, who eliminated Hall 8-4. Worth and Roberts battled to double hill before Worth advanced to the semifinals against Brads.
By this time, it was fairly clear to tour representatives and spectators alike that Worth could arguably have been rated as a ‘7’ instead of the ‘6’ at which he played the entire tournament. According to tour director Herman Parker, Worth will play as a ‘7’ the next time he competes on the tour.
In a straight-up race to 6 in the semifinals, Worth defeated Brads 6-3, advancing to a double-elimination final in which he’d be awarded a single “bead on the wire” in both races to 7 (if needed) against McClinton. Worth didn’t ‘need the bead’ in either set.
He won the opening set 6-3 and came back to do one better (6-2) in the second set, claiming his first event title in his first appearance on the tour.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at the Clubhouse for their hospitality, along with title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this coming weekend, Sept. 17-18, will be a $250-added event, hosted by West End Billiards in Gastonia, NC.
Back in February, we began our report on Stop #2 of the 2022 Junior International Championships sponsored by Viking Cues (JIC) by comparing the series to the start of a horse race, basically noting that at that juncture, the track announcer had just gotten “And they’re off!” out of his mouth. Stop #7 on the JIC was held in Des Moines, IA this past weekend (Aug. 19-21) and the same voice is telling us that the “horses are coming around the far turn and headed for home.” Bear in mind, we’re talking five races going on simultaneously, further complicated by the fact that some of the horses are running in more than one of the races. Not to mention that while the ‘fillies’ and ‘colts’ of the JIC race separately, according to their age (18U & 13U Boys and Girls), they all race together in one of the JIC divisions (ProAm) and some of them compete in both of their gender appropriate races.
‘Home’ in this case will be the final stop of the JIC, scheduled for Sept. 23-25 at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA, after which some of the divisions will move on in October to compete in divisional championships, coinciding in time and place with the annual International Open in Norfolk, VA. This past weekend’s five divisional tournaments drew 95 entrants (with aforementioned crossovers) to Big Dog Billiards in Des Moines, IA.
Out in front by about ‘half-a-length’ in the ProAm division is North Carolina’s Joey Tate, who went undefeated among 37 entrants in Iowa to claim his third JIC stop of the series’ seven (runner-up three times, third once). Chase Stumfoil, appearing in his first ProAm event of the series, was the event’s runner-up, downed by Tate twice, in the hot seat 7-2 and finals 9-4. Ben Kleinfelter, who won the 18U Boys division at this stop, finished third. The victory for Tate kept him atop the ProAm division going into the final stop next month. Second in the division, Landon Hollingsworth, who finished 5th, was able to maintain his position and heads into the final stop behind Tate by only 250 points. In the absence of the division’s third-ranked player, Lazaro Martinez, Riley Adkins, who finished 5th at Stop #7, moved up into third, dropping Martinez into 4th place in the division. Payne McBride, who finished in the tie for 9th/12th, edged up behind him in the rankings to 5th place.
Ben Kleinfelter
In the 18U Boys ‘race,’ Tate and Hollingsworth remained atop those division standings, as well (same order), although they finished 3rd and 4th, respectively, at this most recent stop. Kleinfelter went undefeated through the field of 32, defeating Payne McBride twice, hot seat 7-4 and in a nail-biting final 9-8. Tate and Hollingsworth squared off in the quarterfinals of this divisional event; Tate, having defeated Adkins 7-3 in one of the 5/6 matches, Hollingsworth having eliminated Chase Stumfoil, double hill, in the other one. Tate then downed Hollingsworth 7-3 in those quarterfinals, only to be stopped in his bid for a second event title by McBride in the semifinals 7-5. Kleinfelter survived the double hill final against McBride to claim his first JIC title. Kleinfelter’s win moved him up to the #5 slot in the 18U standings, just behind McBride. Though not in attendance at this event, Lazaro Martinez maintained his hold on third place in the 18U Boys division, as the JIC’s top ‘colts’ bunched up, headed for home.
The top four 18U ‘fillies’ of the JIC came around this final bend already bunched up, with Bethany Tate leading the way, ahead of Sofia Mast, Precilia Kinsley and Skylar Hess, in that order. Tate, who’s won four of the seven stops so far, maintained her position at the top of the pack, while finishing third among the 11 entrants who competed in the division at this stop. Precilia Kinsley, who came in to the event third in the standings, finished 4th, but edged ahead of Sofia Mast in the standings to grab second place. Mast, who went undefeated to claim the official event title, her second of the season, dropped to third. Skylar Hess, who was runner-up to Mast for the second time this season, maintained her 4th place position in the standings.
Sofia Mast
Mast and Hess met twice in this event; in a thriller hot seat match, won by Mast and the finals, also won by Mast 9-5. Tate, who’d lost her second round match, won four on the loss side and then, defeated Kinsley in the quarterfinals, before being defeated by Hess in another double hill battle in the semifinals. Tate and Hess would square off again, and again in the hot seat and finals, of the 13U Girls division.
Vonderau and Mast claim 13U titles
Eddie Vonderau has the distinction of having won all four of the JIC’s 13U Boys events in which he has competed, including this most recent 10-entrant event, in which he went undefeated to claim the fourth title. He’s been out in front of the 13U Boys pack of ‘colts’ from the beginning, although Deke Squier, having competed in all seven of the events has stayed close. Squier finished in 5th place this time out.
Hayden Ernst, who won the third stop in this division, was runner-up this time out and moved up to 7th place in the 13U Boys standings. Seven of this event’s 10 entrants were competing in the JIC series for the first time, and in the absence of the four competitors who, coming into the event, were ranked #3 through #6 (D’Angelo Spain, Jas Makhani, Grayson Vaughan and Jayce Little), it was also an opportunity. First-timer Noel Montano finished in third place when Ernst defeated him in the semifinals. Jax Seaboy lost the quarterfinals to Montano.
Eddie Vonderau
First-timer Braylon Jensen finished in the tie for 5th (with Squier). Also first-timers Dawson Aksamit and Garrett Lawson finished in the tie for 7th place, while Wyatt Andrist and Evan Lawson finished 9th.
The 13U Girls Division was a ‘five-horse’ race, which, with Mast, Hess and Noelle Tate (Bethany’s younger sister) in the running, did not bode well for the other two competitors, Jordan Helfrey and Skylynn Elliott. They opted for a round robin format, which eventually put Mast and Hess against each other in a final match. Noelle Tate had worked her way through the field, eventually downing Helfrey 7-4, before herself being defeated by Hess 7-3, which set up the final match. Mast stayed undefeated and defeated Hess 9-4 in those finals.
At this point, an announcer at a race track is getting really excited, transmitting that excitement with a pitch in his voice, letting everyone know. . “and here they come to the finish line!!” That finish line is in Roanoke, VA next month. Like horses, the young competitors who’ve been at work on this JIC series since January are as excited about the finish line that they can now ‘see’ as the likely group of a lot of spectators who’ll join then in Roanoke, and later, Norfolk to watch.
Nine events, drawn from 22 national qualifiers across 17 states, yields 110 unique competitors
For the second year in a row, since the Billiards Education Foundation initiated a new rule allowing players to compete in more than one division of their Junior National Championships, Greenville, SC’s Landon Hollingworth has taken advantage of an opportunity to claim two separate titles at the annual event. He claimed two 2021 Junior National titles in both the 18 & Under and 16 & Under divisions and last week, though he’d aged out of eligibility for the 16 & Under division of the 2022 Junior Nationals, he won his second 18 & Under division title and added a win in the event’s 10-Ball Championships. Nine divisions drew 110 unique entrants to the 2022 Junior National Championships, which were hosted by the South Point Hotel & Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV from June 21-25.
Three of the nine events were designated as qualifiers for the World Junior 9-Ball Championships, scheduled for the week of November 14-20 at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In addition to the 18U Boys division event, won by Hollingsworth, the 18U Girls division, won by Skylar Hess and the 16U Boys division, won by Adrian Prasad will yield eligible entrants to the World Juniors event. The BEF will make an announcement sometime in the future regarding which players among those who participated will be eligible, taking into account finish positions in each of the qualifying events and the ability of individual players to attend.
The influence of the ongoing Junior International Championship (JIC) series of tournaments, now midway through its second year, was very evident in the results of this year’s Junior Nationals. Of the 27 medals awarded to competitors (gold, silver, bronze; three in each division), 25 of them went to active competitors in the JIC series.
“Proud is an understatement,” wrote On the Wire Creative Media’s Ra Hanna, who organized and runs the series, in the JIC Facebook page. “We’re a family; that’s it, pure and simple. We work hard and we play hard.”
Hollingsworth’s two Gold medals at the BEF Junior Nationals were not without their challenges. Though he’d go undefeated in the second-largest event in terms of entrants, the 18U Boys 9-Ball World Qualifier, which drew 35 entrants, he had to play one loss-side match in his 10-Ball Championship run, which drew 32.
Niko Konkel, Landon Hollingsworth and Joey Tate
None of his five opponents in his 9-Ball event run chalked up less than four racks against him and one of them, Garrett Vaughan, forced him to win the final game of a double hill struggle. He downed Niko Konkel 9-6 to claim the hot seat, before he had to face one of his regular opponents on the JIC circuit, Joey Tate, in the finals. Tate had been sent to the loss side, where he defeated Nicholas Fiore, Trent White in the quarterfinals and Konkel, who picked up the event’s Bronze medal, in the semifinals. Hollingsworth grabbed the Gold medal with a 10-7 final victory over Tate, who went home with the Silver medal.
In the 10-Ball Championships, Hollingsworth began his run to the hot seat match by defeating his younger brother Cameron and then defeated three more opponents to reach and challenge Nathan Nunes for the hot seat. Nunes handed him his first, and as it turned out, only loss of the week 7-3 and claimed the hot seat. Hollingsworth was challenged to his second double hill match by Adrian Prasad in the semifinals and prevailed for a second chance against Nunes. In the very early morning hour or so of Saturday, June 25, he collected his second Gold medal with a 7-5 victory over Nunes in the finals of the 10-Ball event.
In the 18U Girls world qualifier, which drew 17 entrants, Skylar Hess won three on the loss side to down Kennedy Meyman in the finals. Hess had been sent to the loss side by Meyman, who’d advanced to claim the hot seat in a double hill win over Courtney Hairfield. On the loss side, Hess defeated Bethany Tate in the quarterfinals and Hairfield in the semifinals, both 7-5. She won her rematch versus Meyman 10-3 to claim the event’s Gold medal. The top four finishers in this event were among the JIC’s top-ranked competitors in its 18UG division, midway through the JIC season. The winner of the BEF 18UG event, Hess, is 4th on the JIC list, while the runner-up, Meyman, is 2nd. Precilia Kinsley, who finished in the tie for 5th/6th at this event is 3rd on the JIC list, while the 4th place finisher is currently the JIC’s top-ranked young female competitor, Bethany Tate.
In the remaining world-qualifying event, the 16U Boys 9-Ball, which drew one entrant less than the 18U Boys event (34), the 10-Ball Championship’s Bronze medalist, Adrian Prasad came from the loss side to down Harrison Leinen in the finals. Prasad had been defeated by Leinen 9-7 in the battle for the hot seat, and then eliminated the 9-Ball event’s Bronze medalist Niko Konkel in the semifinals 7-2. Prasad completed his run with a 10-8 victory over Leinen in the finals.
The 16U Girls had, by far, the shortest field in the Junior Nationals with only 7 entrants and the above-noted Precilia Kinsley and Bethany Tate finished as winner and runner-up. Those two battled first in a winners’ side semifinal that went double hill before Tate advanced to the hot seat match against Hayleigh Marion. In her second straight double hill match, Tate defeated Marion to claim the hot seat. On the loss side, Kinsley won two matches, including a double hill win over Marion in the semifinals, before coming back to down Tate in the finals 7-2.
8-Ball Championships draw larger field (44), than 14U Girls and Boys combined (40)
Trenton White and Brent Worth
The popularity of 8-Ball was as evident at the BEF Junior Nationals as it is in the general amateur fields of competition, like various leagues and independent-venue, weekendtournaments from coast to coast. The 44-entrant size of the field featured a lot of competitors not included in the JIC rosters of regular competitors. The JIC series, in general, features 9-ball competition, though later this year, there are plans to include a 14:1 tournament. Though they don’t play 8-ball, all three of the event’s medals went to regular JIC competitors.
Trent White, who competes in the JIC 18U Boys division, went undefeated through the field to claim the BEF’s 18U 8-Ball Championships. White faced separate opponents in the hot seat match and finals, downing Brent Worth, double hill, in the former and Jacob Kohl 5-2 in the latter.
Eddie Vonderau, who sits atop the current JIC ranking roster in the 13UB division, went undefeated through the BEF’s 14U Boys event, which drew 28 entrants. Like White in the 8-Ball event, Vonderau faced different opponents in the hot seat and finals. He gave up only a single rack to Jordan Witkin in the hot seat match and faced Jayce Little in the finals. Little won three on the loss side, including two double hill matches, against Grayson Vaughan and in the semifinals, Witkin, for a shot against Vonderau. Witkin chalked up four racks in the finals, but Vonderau got his 8 to claim the Gold medal.
Sofia Mast, Savannah Easton and Noelle Tate
The 12-entrant 14U Girls event was won by Savannah Easton, who went undefeated through the field, downing Sofia Mast twice; hot seat and finals. Easton had defeated the youngest of the three-member Tate clan, Noelle, in a winners’ side semifinal and in the hot seat match, drew Mast, who’d defeated her ‘storied’ arch-rival in the JIC series, Skylar Hess (winner of the 18UG world qualifier), in a winners’ side quarterfinal before defeating Jordan Helfery in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Easton grabbed the hot seat 7-5 over Mast. When Mast returned after defeating Noelle Tate a second time, 5-1, Easton defeated her a second time, 7-3 in the finals to grab the 14U Girls Gold medal.
Tate siblings win 18U Boys and Girls events, Jas Makhani wins Coed 14 & Under
One day, 20-year-old Casey Cork, a veteran of the Junior International Championship series of events, who finished 9th in the overall standings of the 18U girls division in the JIC’s first year and has aged out of competition in all but the ProAm division this year, decided that she wanted to organize a pool tournament for juniors. Not content with the availability of junior tournaments in her Greensboro, NC area, she reached out to Sandeep (Sonny) Makhani, owner of Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem and got him to split the cost of such a tournament and then, reached out to the Billiards Education Foundation and got them to agree to its designation as a qualifier for the annual Junior Nationals.
Easy-peasy, right? Well, probably not.
“I had no clue what I was in for,” she said.
But she got it done and this past weekend, Saturday, April 30, Breaktime hosted a BEF qualifier in three divisions: 18 & Under Boys and Girls and a 14 & Under Coed division. It was arguably for the best that it didn’t draw as many entrants as she’d hoped for (35-40), as she discovered what it was actually all about. The 18U Boys drew 13 entrants, the 14U Coed event drew 11 (and was won by the room owner’s son, Jas Makhani) and there were only six 18U girls. Among this short field were a number of JIC veterans, like the Tate siblings, Joey and Bethany, who both went undefeated to claim the 18U Boys and the 18U Girls titles. Noelle Tate competed, as well, along with Skylar Hess, the Vaughan brothers, and Niko Konkel, to name just a few.
Joey Tate got by Garrett Vaughn twice in the 18U Boys event; hot seat and finals. Tate gave up more than a single rack only once through the five matches that it took him to claim the title. The one who chalked up five against him was Garrett Vaughn’s brother, Grayson. Niko Konkel, who finished third played both brothers; Grayson in the quarterfinals (shutting him out) and Garrett in the semifinals, who defeated him in a double hill match. Tate downed Garrett Vaughn by the same 7-1 score in both the hot seat match and finals.
Grayson Vaughan also competed in the 14U Coed tourney, and was proceeding along nicely until he ran into the eventual winner, Jas Makhani, in a winners’ side semifinal. Makhani advanced to the hot seat match 7-5 over Vaughan and met up with Skylar Hess, who’d sent Max Moore to the loss side by the same 7-5 score. Makhani claimed the hot seat 7-1, sending Hess to the semifinals and a 5-2 win over Jayce Little, who’d previously defeated Vaughan in the quarterfinals. Hess managed one more rack against Makhani in the finals than she’d chalked up against him in their hot seat match, but Makhani claimed the title 7-2.
Hess showed up in the finals of the 10-match 18U Girls event, too. Downed by Bethany Tate 7-3 in the opening round, Hess came back through half the field (three opponents) to challenge her in the finals. Bethany Tate (15) had downed her younger sister, Noelle (12) in a winners’ side semifinal 7-3, advancing to the hot seat against Alana Sanchez, who’d sent Taylor Perkins to the loss side 7-1. Bethany claimed the hot seat 7-4. Hess, after downing Perkins 7-4, Noelle Tate 5-3 in the quarterfinals and Sanchez, double hill, in the semifinals got a second shot against Bethany Tate. Tate won their title-claiming rematch 7-4.
“There were some bumps in the road, some conflicts,” said Cork of her first tournament-direction experience, as, she noted by example, the fact that the venue had to move some of the bar box tables toward the end of the evening to accommodate the arrival of a band, “but otherwise, it went well.”
Well enough, she went on to say, that she’s already setting her sights toward future junior tournaments and the possibility of launching a series of women’s tournaments, as well. Not everyone walks away from their first tournament-directing experience with as much enthusiasm and immediate plans for the next one. We suspect we’ll be hearing more from this young woman and her pool-tournament aspirations in the months and hopefully, years ahead.
Courtney Hairfield, Kennedy Meyman and Noelle Tate
Vonderau and Mast capture 13 & Under titles
“Last year was practice,” said Ra Hanna of On The Wire Creative Media and tour director of the Junior International Championships, sponsored by Viking Cues, which began its second season last weekend (Jan. 14-16). In a snowstorm.
“Practice is over now.”
The weather had an impact that forced Hanna to cut it short. His concern for the safety of his junior competitors, as well as the family members who’d helped get them to Roanoke, VA, led to squeezing play in all five of the JIC divisions into two days, instead of three. That same weather led to flight cancellations that pinned Hanna in Roanoke until Wednesday.
“The safety of the players and their families was what was most important,” he said, noting that a cycle of soft snow and freezing temperatures had made the roads “like an ice-skating rink.”
The event, now officially known as the Junior International Championships, sponsored by Viking Cues, drew a total of just over 100 entrants, across its five divisions (with some cross-over between divisions), to Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA. Hanna had expected more and was convinced that in the absence of the weather, there would have been more.
Niko Konkel, Lazaro Martinez and Garrett Vaughan
Returning to compete in the JIC’s second season were the winner and runner-up of 2021’s 18 & Under Championship finals, Landon Hollingsworth and Joey Tate, who finished 1st and 2nd in Season 2/Stop #1’s 31-entrant Pro Am Division. They did not fare as well in the 18 & Under division, finishing 4th (Hollingsworth) and in the tie for 17th place (Tate).The 18 & Under Boys division was won by Lazaro Martinez, who went undefeated, downing Niko Konkel, who’d lost to him in the hot seat match and returned from a victory over Garrett Vaughan in the semifinals, to be defeated a second time.
In the absence of 2021’s 18 and Under Girls’ Champion, Tatum Cutting (who has turned 19), the young woman she shut out in the championship finals of that division in October, Kennedy Meyman, got ‘right back on the horse,’ so to speak. Meyman lost her opening match in the 11-entrant, 2022 division opener, but rallied to win six in a row and then, down Courtney Hairfield in the finals.
The 13 & Under divisions, which drew 17 boys and 9 girls, saw the emergence of a new(er) rivalry and the renewal of an old one. Eddie Vondereau and Grayson Vaughan battled twice for the boys’ title; hot seat and finals. Vonderau downed Vaughan both times to claim that title.
Grayson Vaughan, Eddie Vonderau and D’Angelo Spain
And in the 13 & Under Girls’ division, it was storied JIC rivals, Sofia Mast and Skylar Hess, who, like Vonderau and Vaughan, battled twice for the event’s division title. After each was awarded a bye in the opening round of play, they met in what was the first match for both of them. They came within a game of double hill, but it was Hess who edged out in front to send Mast to the loss side 7-5. Mast breezed through her first three rounds on the loss side by an aggregate score of 21-4. In the quarterfinals that followed, Noelle Tate (sister to Joey) put up a fight that earned her more racks against Mast than her first three loss-side opponents, combined. Mast advanced 7-5 to the semifinals, where she defeated Savannah Easton, appearing in her first JIC event, 7-4.
“That was one of the surprises of the event,” said Hannah. “(Easton) beat out some of the top girls in that division (Franki Spain, Raygen Wilson & Skylynn Elliott) to finish third in her first event.”
So, once again, it was Mast and Hess squaring off against each other; a matchup that occurred in the quarterfinals of the 18 & Under Girls Championship last October. Mast dominated the extended race-to-9, winning it 9-2 to claim her first, and likely, not her last 2022 JIC title.
If it ain’t broke . . .
There are differences in this second JIC season, but they’re about some minor additions and an expectation level being fostered by Hanna and the crew of folks who helped him last year and continue to do so this year. Kory and Trena Wolford, owners of Wolf’s Den, are among them.
Skylar Hess, Sofia Mast and Savannah Easton
Viking Cues has joined as a sponsor, and as such, will contribute to prizes, a scholarship to be awarded to the player who receives the tour’s Brendan Crockett Sportsmanship Award, aspects of the tour’s day-to-day operations, and when appropriate, unspecified equipment. Hanna noted that Dynaspheres “stepped up,” as did Mike Littman with Littman Lights. The tour is working with DigitalPool this year, which will feature what Hanna described as a “custom environment” with the expected brackets, updated division rankings, player profiles and live scoring.
“The players themselves are going to be doing the live scoring from their smart phones,” said Hanna. “They’ll be uploading scores to that site in real time.”
“We’re looking at a shot clock on the big tables,” he added of one other embellishment they’ll be considering bringing, literally, to the tables. “Modeling the atmosphere to that of the professionals, so that (the players) won’t be ‘deer in the headlights’ out in the world.”
“We’re also going to be sponsoring some of the players going into Pro events throughout the year,” he added. “It’ll be up to the player to decide which Pro event they might want to attend, whether it be Turning Stone, or the Super Billiards Expo. (The tour) will be off in April and we’re going to send a nice little contingent. With four of the divisions, a representative from each division would be nice.”
The plan is to provide the junior players with more than just an opportunity to compete throughout the year, but to provide them, as well, with the tools necessary to compete against increasingly difficult competition in what could well be difficult venues.
“I don’t want them complacent,” said Hanna. “I want them to know that there’s always going to be someone coming for you and that things aren’t always going to be perfect; not the balls, not the tables, not the general environment.”
“I want to go to war with this group,” he added. “The make-up of this group is the right combo to succeed; we’ve got everything – gunslingers, mercenaries, the quiet types. We’re going to make some noise this year.”
The Junior International Championships, sponsored by Viking Cues, will hold the second stop of its second season on the weekend of Feb. 11-13. It will be hosted by Diamond Billiards in Cape Coral, FL.
Not only do her three wins and three runner-up finishes put her at the top of the Junior International Championships’ Girls 13 & Under division, but her two wins, one 3rd, one 4th and two 5th place finishes in the Girls 18 & Under division puts her at the head of that ‘class,’ too. Sofia Mast, 12, is carving out a slot for herself in the finale of this inaugural Junior International Championship season. Four young women have won a stop on the six Girls 13 & Under events of this first season. The other three are currently in 2nd (Skylar Hess), 3rd (Bethany Tate) and 7th place (April Gonzales) in the standings. Four young women have also won the six Girls 18 & Under division events. Mast and Tatum Cutting (#1 and #3 in the rankings) have done it twice, while Kennedy Meyman (#2) and Aryana Lynch (#13) have done it once.
At this most recent in the ongoing JIC series of events, held this past weekend (July 16-18) and hosted by the League Room in Parkersburg, WV, Mast went undefeated in the Girls 13 & Under division, which drew eight entrants. She was awarded an opening round bye and then shut out Airianna Taylor to draw April Gonzales in a winners’ side semifinal. Skylar Hess, in the meantime, followed her opening round bye with a 7-4 win over CJ Newberry to pick up Taylor Perkins in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Mast downed Gonzales 7-5 and in the hot seat, faced Hess, who’d sent Perkins to the loss side 7-1. It is rumored that as this JIC opening season approaches its climax, someone is going to come up with the idea of selling tickets to the matches between these two young women. Mast took the first of their two 7-4 and waited on Hess’ return.
On the loss side, Gonzales picked up Skylynn Elliott, who’d defeated CJ Newberry 7-3 to reach her. Perkins drew Franki Spain, who’d eliminated Airianna Taylor 7-4. Spain and Perkins battled to double hill before Spain prevailed, advancing to the quarterfinals. Gonzales joined her after downing Elliott 7-2.
Gonzales took the quarterfinal contest 7-4 over Spain, only to be stopped by Hess in the semifinals by the same score. Mast completed her undefeated run through the Girls 13 and Under division by defeating Hess a second time, 9-6.
Special awards emerge from Boys 13 and under contests
Both of the event’s special awards came out of the Boys 13 & Under division, which drew 11 entrants. The Brendan Crockett Sportsmanship Award went to Eddie Vondereau, who won the division, while the Jeanette Lee “Black Widow” Comeback Award went to Grayson Vaughan, who finished third.
Vaughan earned his ‘comeback’ award in his opening round of play against 10-year-old Hayden Ernst, who opened up a 6-1 lead against him. Vaughan persevered and chalked up six in a row to defeat Ernst and advance to a winners’ side semifinal against Jayce Little. Vondereau, in the meantime, had defeated Max Moore 7-1 to draw D’Angelo “Jawz” Spain in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Vondereau defeated “Jawz” 7-3 and advanced to the hot seat match. Vaughan joined him after sending Little to the loss side 7-4. Vonderau claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Vaughan and would not, as it turned out, face him again.
On the loss side, Konnor McFayden, who’d lost his opening round match 7-2 to Hayden Ernst, got a bye in his opening round on the loss side and then won five in a row for the right to challenge Vondereau. McFayden shut out Lathan Elliott, survived a double hill fight against Noah Majersky, defeated both Jayce Little and “Jawz” 7-3 and finally, eliminated Grayson Vaughan 7-4 in the semifinals. Vondereau ended McFayden’s loss-side winning streak with a 9-3 victory in the finals to claim his first JIC 13 & Under title and move into the #8 slot in the division’s rankings.
On the Wire Creative Media’s Ra Hanna thanked Chris Wilson (owner of The League Room in Parkersburg, WV), Chris Reinhold (photography), the Wolfords (Kory and Treena, for their help), Mike Littman of Littman Lights, his (Hanna’s) streaming crew and Dee Adkins, for orchestrating a clinic for the girl competitors at this most recent event. Hanna once again gave a shout out to all of the families of the junior players, whose camaraderie has made these events “truly, one big traveling family.”
The next stop on the JIC series of events, scheduled for August 27-20, will be hosted by Michael’s in Fairfield, OH. The final event for the 13 & Under Boys and Girls, scheduled for September 17-19, will be hosted by Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA. The finals for 18 & Under Boys and Girls will coincide with the International Open in Norfolk, VA in October.
