After the 1st NC State 9-Ball Championships were won by Larry Nevel in 2013, Mike Davis, Jr. won the next three between 2014 and 2016 He skipped three years in which Shannon Fitch (’17), Reymart Lim (’18) and Keith Bennett (’19) won, before returning to the annual event in 2020, downing Justin Martin in the finals. BJ Ussery claimed the title in 2021 and Jesus Atencio won it last year. Mike Davis, Jr. chalked up his fifth NC State 9-Ball Championship title this past weekend (Feb. 25-26), going undefeated and downing Brian White twice; hot seat and finals. The $1,000-added event, held under the auspices of the PremierBilliards.com TOP (The Open Players) Tour, drew 38 entrants to Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC.
A previously-scheduled Ladies event did not occur when it drew only 5 women, including a pair of junior competitors, Hayleigh Marion and Skylar Hess. The women were offered the opportunity at a reduced entry to compete in the Open event and did so, comporting themselves quite well actually.
“Even when they lost,” said tour director, Herman Parker, “the fact that they’d won a few, collectively, against some strong (male) competition was pretty significant.”
Skylar Hess, a regular on the Junior International Championship circuit (JIC), defeated Jason Blackwell before losing to Barry Mashburn and Kirk Overcash. Hayleigh Marion won two on the winners’ side and one on the loss side before being knocked out by Q City 9-Ball veteran and multiple event winner, Reid Vance. Christy Norris, who plays on the tour regularly in mixed-gender events, came within of match of advancing to the first money round, before she forfeited a match against her significant other, Barry Mashburn (who promptly loss in the subsequent round, which led to some gentle ‘ribbing’ after the fact).
“I was super-impressed with the womens’ play this past weekend,” said Parker.
Davis and Brian White met first in the hot seat match after Davis had defeated Clint Clark 7-3 in one of the winners’ side semifinals and White had downed Don Lilly 7-1 in the other one. Davis claimed the hot seat 7-4 and waited on White’s return.
On the loss side, Davis actually had two “White”s to watch, because Hunter White was working his way through the bracket on the loss side as well. Hunter had eliminated Mark Bolton 7-3 and in the first money round, Barry Mashburn 7-4 to draw Lilly. Clark picked up Josh Padron, who’d recently defeated Kelly Farrar 7-3 and to enter that first money round too, survived a double hill battle versus Scott Howard to reach him.
Hunter White defeated Lily 7-3 and in the quarterfinals, met up with Clint Clark, who’d eliminated Padron 7-4. Hunter White then downed Clark 7-2 in those quarterfinals, leaving Davis (waiting in the hot seat) in the position of wondering which “White” to watch as the two of them squared off in the semifinals.
One “White” won as the other went down. Brian defeated Hunter 7-3 for a second crack at Davis in the finals. Davis and Brian White mirrored their hot seat match score, which gave Davis his fifth NC State 9-Ball Championship title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Breaktime Billiards for their hospitality (and sponsorship of the tour), as well as title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and TKO Custom Cues.
The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com TOP Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 18-19 will be the 2023 West Virginia State 9-Ball Open, to be hosted by The League Room in Parkersburg, WV. The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this coming weekend (March 4-5), will be hosted by West End Billiards in Gastonia, NC.
Last year, at just about this time, Noelle Tate (13) placed 4th at the first stop of the 2022 JIC series in the 13U Girls division. She would go on to place 3rd three times at stops #3, #6 & #8 and finish third in the overall rankings of that division. She also finished 6th in the 18U Girls division and in the 18U Girls Championships in November at the International Open, she defeated her older sister, Bethany, in the semifinals and finished second to Sofia Mast. A little over two weeks later (Dec. 17-18), that same scenario played out at the independent “When the Smoke Clears” 20U Girls division event at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke; Noelle downing her sister Bethany in the semifinals and then being defeated by Mast in those event finals. Competition has led Noelle Tate and Mast to become, in the lingo of their age group, “besties.”
Like her brother, Joey, Noelle came to the season-opening event of the 2023 JIC season and made a statement. Coming from the loss side in the 13U Girls division (8 entrants), she avenged a defeat at the hands of Arianna Houston in the battle for the hot seat and following a successful semifinal, defeated Houston in the finals to claim the event title. She also competed in the 18U Girls division, where she was initially defeated by 3rd place finisher, Precilia Kinsley in the opening round and in her first loss-side match, fell victim to her older sister, Bethany in what had to have been an interesting, family-dynamic, double-hill battle.
In the 13U Girls event, Noelle got by Raylee Graves 7-1 and Skylynn Elliott 7-4 to arrive at the hot seat match. Houston downed Franki Spain 7-5 and Skylar Hess, double hill, to join her. Houston and Tate locked up in a double hill fight that eventually did send Tate to the semifinals.
On the loss side, Hess, after her defeat at the hands of Houston, eliminated Kelli Banks 7-1 and Elliott 7-5 to draw Tate in the semifinals. Tate earned her re-match against Houston with a 7-5 semifinal victory over Hess in those semifinals.
In an extended race-to-9, Tate and Houston battled back and forth to their second straight double hill match. Tate won it to claim the season-opening 13U Girls title.
Hayden Ernst
Ernst goes undefeated to claim 2023 opening event of 13U Boys division
Hayden Ernst took full advantage of the absence of Eddie Vondereau in the 13U Boys division this past weekend and went undefeated through a field of 12 entrants to claim the season opening division title. Ernst was not exactly the ‘mouse’ that played when the ‘cat’ was away, because he’d won two of the five 2022 JIC 13U Boys events in which he competed last year and finished 4th in the division rankings. He was sort of another vigilant ‘cat’ that this past weekend’s 13U Boys field had to contend with. Vonderau had won four of the five he competed in last year and finished at the top of those rankings (ahead of, in order, Jas Makhani, Deke Squier and Ernst). Vondereau did not compete in the 13U Boys division at this season opening stop, but he was runner-up to Joey Tate in the 18U Boys division.
The other two competitors, ahead of him in last year’s rankings, did compete in this 12-entrant, 13U Boys season opener, but Ernst didn’t have to face either of them. Ernst didn’t give up more than two racks before he’d advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against D’Angelo “Jawz” Spain who chalked up five against him. Ernst advanced to the hot seat match, where he faced Jas Makhani, who’d defeated Colston Harrelston 7-4 to join him. Ernst claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Makhani and waited on the return of what turned out to be “Jawz.”
On the loss side, “Jawz” trip back to the finals began with a double hill fight against Tanner McKinney. With that out of the way, in the quarterfinals “Jawz” faced Harrelston, who’d defeated Marlin Foster 7-5 to reach him.
“Jawz” gave up only three racks in his quarterfinal battle against Harrelston and while Jas Makhani put up a one-game-away-from-double-hill fight in the semifinals, “Jawz” prevailed for a shot against Ernst, waiting for him in the hot seat.
Ernst and “Jawz” fought a double hill fight for the 13U Boys title. Ernst won it to claim his first, though likely not his last, 2023 JIC title.
If North Carolina’s Joey Tate had a notion to begin his third year as a junior competitor on the Junior International Championships’ (JIC) series of events with some sort of statement, he accomplished that objective well. In the first event of the 2023 JIC season, held this past weekend (Jan. 13-15) at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA, he went undefeated through the 18U Boys division and came from the loss side to claim the ProAm division event; both drew 29 entrants. Skylar Hess, in the meantime, did much the same thing in the 18U Girls division (10 entrants), her ‘statement’ amounting to an undefeated run through the field to claim the first 2023 JIC title in that division and ending a streak of eight appearances in 2022 without a win. In all (with some crossover between different divisions and the gender/age-neutral ProAm division), the JIC season opener drew 88 entrants to Wolf’s Den.
We will cover the two 13U divisions in a separate report, though for now, we’ll report that Hayden Ernst went undefeated to claim the 13U Boys Division and Noelle Tate (Joey’s younger sister) came from the loss side (defeated in the hot seat) for a rematch against Arianna Houston and won the 13U Girls Division.
As Joey Tate and his perennial rival in these JIC events over the past two years (Landon Hollingsworth) came to the tables this past weekend, it’s likely that beyond their singular, cliched task of “taking it one game/match at a time” and “playing the table, not your opponent,” they had a portion of their sights set on the end-of-the-year 18U Boys Championship, an invitational event that plays out during the International Open in Norfolk, VA. Pitting the top players in thedivision at the end of each season each other, the inaugural 18U Boys Championship was won by Hollingsworth and Tate claimed the title last November. Though at this stage of the literal game, it’s a little early to be thinking about that, it’s hard to imagine that given their relatively short-history rivalry, they’re not thinking about that eventual ‘rubber match’ in the third 18U Boys Championship in November, at least once in a while.
In fact, it probably crossed their minds when they met for the first and only time in the opening round of the 18U Boys event, when Tate sent Hollingsworth to the loss side 7-3. They are, by the way, separated by only three Fargo Rate points; Tate, 700 and Hollingsworth, 697. Tate advanced and ran right into Landon Hollingsworth’s brother, Cameron, who battled him to double hill before Tate finished the match, eventually advancing to the hot seat against Nathan Nunes, who, on his journey to the winners’ side final, had defeated the other eventual finalist, Eddie Vonderau. Tate claimed the hot seat 7-2 over Nunes.
On the loss side, Vondereau downed Cameron Hollingsworth 7-5, Hunter Zayas, double hill and Niko Konkel to draw Landon Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth, after his opening round loss to Tate, had embarked on a five-match winning streak that had recently eliminated Logan Whitaker, double hill and Brent Worth in a shutout. His streak came to end when Vondereau defeated him 7-2 in the quarterfinals. Vondereau and Nunes engaged in a spirited semifinal, in which Vondereau edged out in front at the end to win 7-5. Joey Tate was taking no prisoners, as he completed his undefeated run by allowing Vondereau only a single rack in the finals to claim the event title.
Sklyar Hess
In the absence of one, Hess gets by two JIC opponents who finished ahead of her in 2022
Though she failed to win a JIC event in 2022, Skylar Hess was runner-up, twice; to Bethany Tate in Stop #3 and Sofia Mast in Stop # 7. Tate finished at the top of the series’ 2022 rankings, with Mast in 2nd place. Precilia Kinsley finished third in those rankings. Mast and Hess, in the first two years of the JIC, had created a rivalry dynamic similar to Hollingsworth/Tate in the 18U Boys division. Mast, though, was not present at this most recent 18U Girls event. Though present, Tate finished in 4th place and did not face Hess. Precilia Kinsley did.
Kinsley worked her way through Bethany Tate’s younger sister, Noelle and sent Hess’ eventual opponent in the finals, Courtney Hairfield to the loss side 7-5 in a winners’ side semifinal. Hess downed Hayleigh Marion and Sabrina Long to join her in the hot seat match. Hess claimed it 7-4.
Hairfield moved to the loss side and downed Marion in a double hill fight and eliminated Bethany Tate in the quarterfinals 7-2. Hairfield and Kinsley came within a game of double hill before Hairfield prevailed 7-5 to face Hess in the finals. In an extended race-to-9, Hairfield and Hess also came within a game of double hill before Hess pulled out in front to claim the title 9-7.
Tate and Hollingsworth square off in winners’ side semifinal of ProAm event
The marquee matchup of J. Tate v. L. Hollingsworth happened twice in the gender/age-neutral ProAm division of the JIC’s opening weekend. They split them, while the order in which the two matches were played proved to be significant.
They met in a winners’ side semifinal, while Nathan Nunes and Dustin Muir met in the other one. Hollingsworth sent Tate to the loss side 7-5 and was joined in the hot seat match Nunes, who’d defeated Muir 7-3. There are very few so-called surprises in the world of pool at any level, especially when two opponents are somewhat evenly matched. Hollingsworth entered the hot seat match with a Fargo Rate 59 points higher than Nunes (697-638). But it was Hollingsworth who moved to the semifinals, when Nunes claimed the hot seat 7-5.
The loss-side battles for advancement to the quarterfinals featured two, double hill matches; Tate versus Nathan Childress and Dustin Muir against Jas Makhani. Tate defeated Childress, as Muir eliminated Makhani. Tate earned his rematch against Hollingsworth with a 7-5 victory over Muir in those quarterfinals.
Surprise, surprise! The semifinal was a fight to the finish, known in the pool world as a double hill match. The three-point Fargo Rate differential gave Tate a slight edge in terms of probability, but it wasn’t one that you’d have been likely to have gotten any great odds, either way.
Tate advanced to the finals over Hollingsworth and (surprise, surprise) locked up in a second straight double hill battle, with the event title on the line. He claimed it 9-8 over Nunes to chalk up his first of two 2023 JIC titles on the same weekend.
The late Helena Thornfeldt remembered in heartfelt 1st Annual event named in her honor
She was nicknamed the Sledgehammer because of her powerful break. Whenever conversations about Helena Thornfeldt broke out among friends and competitors at the 1st Annual WPBA Cherokee Sledgehammer Open, named in her honor this past weekend (Wed., Oct. 19 – Sun., Oct. 23), more than just a few of the gathered women had cause to remember it; the loud whack of initial contact and the way the balls spread out as though desperate for space beyond the rails to dissipate the energy of it. It had taken over two years for the pool community’s widespread respect and admiration for the late Helena Thornfeldt to arrive at a gathering in her honor. The WPBA Hall of Famer died in August of 2019 and though Janet Atwell, in an attempt to organize a 2020 event, began work on it almost immediately, COVID had other ideas, that persisted.
This past weekend, Atwell’s room, Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN had one of Thornfeldt’s favorite things, sunflowers, on prominent display. A table was set aside to hold a variety of individual and collections of photos. The trophies that were handed to the winner, Kelly Fisher and runner-up Kristina Tkach were accompanied by two actual sledgehammers, made by Robert Ingold of Team SuperShaft. Atwell is working on the creation of a permanent wall plaque at Borderline Billiards with engraving space for the event’s present and future winners, along with a pair of crossed sledgehammers. The event began on Wednesday with words from Janet Atwell and a video made by Bonnie Arnold that featured, among other things, Thornfeldt singing a karaoke version of Born to be Wild. The event officially opened with the National Anthem sung by Christina Druen.
“I think it was an emotional event for everyone,” said Atwell. “Some went through some struggles with it.”
“Absolutely,” agreed Kelly Fisher. “A very emotional event, that first night. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.”
Kelly Fisher
“We all missed her really,” she added, “and we hadn’t had a chance to show that or feel that, as a family, together. I know that for myself, during that final and a during a few other close matches as well, I could just imagine Helena saying things to me. I went outside at one point to get a breath of air and Monica (Webb) said something to me that Helena would have said and I got kind of fired up there. So for me, personally, she was definitely a presence in my heart and mind.”
Among those in attendance, including Fisher, Tkach and Atwell of course, was Jeannette Lee, who had, in a 2017 interview, called Thornfeldt “the best female straight pool player in the world.” Lee joined Atwell as a member of a ProAm team (one of many) that played a social tournament on opening night, full of blatant sharking and fun. Monica Webb, who ran a restaurant business with Thornfeldt for a number of years, was there, as well. So, too, was the WPBA’s Peg Ledman, a personal friend of Thornfeldt. Not present, though there in spirit, was Allison Fisher, who was in England being awarded an MBE title (a Member of the British Empire) for her “contributions to sport,” many of those, from Britain’s point of view, earned as a snooker player there. The event also featured a strong contingent of (now) relatively well-known junior competitors like Hayleigh Marion (for whom Borderline Billiards is a home room), Sofia Mast, Skylar Hess and recipient of a great deal of attention, 12-year-old Savannah Easton.
The $10,000-added Sledgehammer Open drew a total of 80 entrants to Borderline Billiards, 32 of them drawing byes exempting them from Stage One competition. The 48 others, 16 of whom drew opening round byes in Stage One, played in a double-elimination bracket until there were eight on each side of it. Stage Two awarded byes to the top 16 in the WPBA standings, as the double-elimination bracket got underway, and . . . they were off.
Headlining the eight competitors who advanced to Stage Two from the winners’ side of the Stage One bracket was Sofia Mast, one of the 16 who’d been awarded opening round byes in Stage One. Her first opponent was Savannah Easton, setting up an early junior marquee matchup. Mast advanced on the winners’ side 7-2, while Easton would move to the loss side, winning three by an aggregate score of 21-5 and advancing to Stage Two. Also advancing on the winners’ side of the Stage One bracket were Kathy Friend, Jaye Succo, Nathalie Chabot, Christy Norris and the Callado sisters, Eleanor and Emilyn. Along with Easton, loss-side competitors advancing to Stage Two were junior competitors Skylar Hess and Precilia Kinsley, along with Nicole Albergaria, Dawn Oldag, Kim Housman, Lisa Cossette and Casey Cork.
Kristina Tkach
The opening round of Stage Two, with Kelly Fisher (among others) idle with opening round byes. Kristina Tkach played and won her opening round against Casey Cork 8-3 and then downed Stephanie Mitchell 8-3 in a match that set her up to face Fisher. Savannah Easton opened the Stage Two part of her title bid with a successful, double-hill match versus J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT) veteran Kia Burwell. Easton advanced to face another JPNEWT veteran and the #1-ranked American player in the WPBA rankings, Caroline Pao, where she (Easton), as they say, met her match; Pao winning the contest 8-5. Mast lost her opening Stage Two match to Meng-Hsia (Bean) Hung 8-2, and moved west for an eventual rematch against Easton.
Fisher, in the second round, downed Eleanor Callado 8-3 and then, in a late match, fell to Tkach 8-6. Tkach advanced to the other winners’ side semifinal against Pao.
“She obviously had worked very hard and perfected that cut break and I just wasn’t getting my break going,” said Fisher. “She obviously played very well to beat me. I knew she was in good shape and thought “Oh, my!”
At the other end of the bracket, Margaret Fefilova, with relative ease, was working her way through the winners’ side for an eventual matchup against Jennifer Baretta in the other winners’ side semifinal. Fefilova got by Lisa Cossette 8-3 before running into what turned out to be her toughest opponent (as gauged by racks-against), Janet Atwell, who chalked up five against her. Fefilova moved on to down Ashley Rice 8-2 and record a shutout over the #3 competitor in the WPBA rankings, Brittany Bryant, which set her up against Baretta.
Fefilova got into the hot seat match with an 8-3 win over Baretta and was joined by Tkach, who’d sent Pao to the loss side 8-4. On Saturday night, Tkach claimed the hot seat 8-2 over Fefilova and would wait until Sunday afternoon to see who came back from the semifinals.
It was Kelly Fisher. But she wouldn’t play that semifinal until Sunday. In the meantime, Pao and Baretta had business to attend to on what was left of Saturday night. Baretta picked up Savannah Easton, whose improbable and impressive run among this roomful of professional female pool players was still happening as the bracket whittled down to its final six. Easton had followed her loss to Pao with a loss-side, double-hill win over Beth Fondell and then, looking to advance into the first money round (17th/24th), she had the opportunity to avenge her Stage One loss to Sofia Mast. She did so, in a match that appropriately came within a game of going double hill. Easton then eliminated Laura Smith and won a double-hill battle against Emily Duddy. She then downed Monica Webb 8-6 and Dawn Hopkins 8-3.
Larry Easton, Savannah’s father, no stranger to his daughter’s talent, turned to Atwell as he was watching this, as amazed as many of the spectators at how far his daughter had come, in a lot of ways.
“I don’t even know what to say,” he told Atwell.
“She’s got great cue ball control, thinks ahead and plays very smart for her age,” Atwell would comment later. “She’s very strategic and plays great safeties. She plays like an adult and (her career) is off to a great start.”
Pao, in the meantime, drew Fisher, who’d started what she called a “grueling Saturday,” playing five matches in a row from noon to 8:30. She played and eliminated Meng-Hsia Hung (at noon), Janet Atwell (2 p.m.), Susan Williams (4:30) and the WPBA’s #2-ranked competitor, Brittany Bryant (6:30), all 8-4. Fisher defeated Pao 8-3 (8:30), as Baretta elicited a variety of mixed emotions from all assembled by ending Savannah Easton’s run 8-1. There was a lot of spectator applause in the moment, some of it for both of them, but a lot of it for the talented junior.
“People were excited to see her play,” said Atwell, “and happy with her finish.”
In a quarterfinal battle appropriate to the circumstances, played the following morning, Fisher and Baretta went double hill before Fisher prevailed. In the semifinals, Fisher went back to the loss-side pattern she’d established and punching her ticket to the finals, defeated Fefilova 8-4. Fisher might have played six matches to be in the finals, but thanks to Tkach, it required eight, including a loss. The rematch came within a game of double hill, but not before Fisher found herself down 2-5 and later, 5-8; Tkach a rack away from the hill.
“I was spurred on by pure determination really and the will to win it,” she said of her comeback. “I told Helena, I looked at her picture and like that, ‘Come on, do this for you’ kind of thing and whether you believe in that kind of thing or not, it’s not about who or what it takes to spur you on, but doing whatever it takes.”
“Whatever it was,” she added, “things turned around. I dug in my heels, hit a gear and took charge of the match.”
From 2-5 down, Fisher won eight of the last 11 games, including the last five in a row. Quite the gear, all things considered. Whether it was herself, Helena, or just the adrenaline of a final push to the finish line, Fisher brought it all to bear and claimed title to her close friend’s first and likely not the last memorial.
Helena Thornfeldt
The 1st Annual WPBA Cherokee Sledgehammer Open came about through the efforts of any number of people, all of whom host Janet Atwell thanked, from the players and spectators to the members of her staff. She also thanked event sponsors the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Brad Hendricks Law Firm (Little Rock, ARK), Patty and Walter Harper of Knoxville and the streaming services of DigitalPool with Upstate Al, Zach Goldsmith and a number of competitors who joined them in the booth.
Editor’s note: Helena Thornfeldt died on August 20, 2019 at the age of 52. Originally from Borlange, Sweden, she was living in Villa Rica, about 35 miles west of Atlanta, when she died. She had opened a new restaurant, Pizza Mania, 15 days before she passed. The “Sledgehammer” turned professional in 1994, was a three-time European straight pool champion and won the 2002 US Open Championship in New Mexico, downing Allison Fisher in the finals. In the year she was inducted into the WPBA Hall of Fame in 2017, she was ranked 9th among American pool players. We here at AZBilliards join with members of the ever-expanding pool community in mourning her loss and in the years to come, celebrating the life of such a vibrant, widely-admired and respected member of our community at an annual Sledgehammer Open.
The draw for the inaugural SVB Junior Open set to take place at Harrah’s Resort, Atlantic City during the US Open Pool Championship from October 13-14 has been made as 64 players aged 17 and under battle it out to take home a slice of the $10,000 first place prize. SCHEDULE
Khalid Alghamdi who announced himself on the Nineball stage in fashion at the European Open with a run to Winners’ Qualification will start out against Holden Moody. Double Gold European medalist Yannick Pongers will be a name to watch and he starts against Kaden Herrbach.
Japan’s Miina Tani goes against Chase Murray whilst the USA’s Joey Tate takes on Skylar Hess. Elsewhere, Riku Romppanen will meet Eva Grigsby and rising star in the Junior International Championship D’Angelo Spain takes on Eddie Vonderau.
The semi-finals and final are set to be streamed live on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel to over 180,000 subscribers as the players enjoy a huge spotlight offered to them thanks to the main US Open being at the Last 16 and Quarter-Final stage during the last day of the Junior Open.
Fans will be able to soak in the Junior Open on tables next to the main event making the Juniors feel a huge part of the US Open in the Diamond Arena.
All Junior competitors will receive an SVB Junior Open jersey free of charge from official apparel partner Onboard alongside the $10,000 prize fund. Van Boening’s official cue partner, Cuetec put up $5,000 alongside $5,000 from Matchroom to offer one of the most exciting prize pots in Junior Pool.
The tournament will be played on Diamond Tables, with Simonis Shark Grey 860 cloth, Aramith Tournament Black balls, and KAMUI chalk in the same Diamond Arena as the US Open Pool Championship which takes place from October 10-15. All matches up until the quarter-finals will be Race to 7 with matches from then on being Races to 9.
Live rack-by-rack scoring will be available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.comthanks to our partners CueScore.
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.
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.
Currently riding atop the 18U Boys division of the ongoing second season of the Junior International Championship series, having won three of its six stops in 2022, North Carolina’s Joey Tate made his way to the West Coast last weekend (August 6-7) and with a hot seat ‘hiccup’ and a subsequent rematch against Adrian Prasad in the finals, claimed the BEF’s Junior National-qualifying spot at the CA State Junior Championships. The $5,000-added boys’ division drew 17 entrants to Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, CA.
On the opposite end of the gender spectrum, two of the best-known, not to mention youngest female competitors in the sport – Sofia Mast (14) and Savannah Easton (12) – battled in the hot seat and finals of the $5,000-added, 18U Girls division of the event, which drew 7 entrants to the same location. Easton claimed the hot seat, but Mast came back from defeating her long-time (well, two-year) rival, Skylar Hess, in the semifinals and returned to defeat Easton in the finals to claim the event title.
The California event was just one of many tournaments that have occurred in this calendar year which are manifestations of the Junior International Championships (JIC), founded by Ra Hanna and his On the Wire Creative Media company in 2021. At the conclusion of the first season and just prior to the second, Hanna made note of the fact that the first season was “just practice” and that “practice was (now) over.” His intent, at the start of the second season, was to encourage his junior competitors to step away from tournaments restricted to their peers and get themselves out in the ‘real world’ of tough competition against older opponents. And the top JIC competitors have been doing just that. While not leaping to the top of ranked players, they’ve been cashing in a lot of tournaments and impressing veteran players on a lot of the tours, as, by way of just a couple of examples, the Viking Cues Q City 9-Ball Tour on which the Tate family (Joey, Bethany and Noelle) has been competing regularly and a number of Florida tours and independent events, on which Tampa-based Sophia Mast has been playing.
Though the California event drew a number of the JIC competitors back among their peers, it also had a way of demonstrating the impact of the JIC throughout the country. Ten of the 17 California event competitors in the 18U Boys division were JIC veterans and all but one of the seven girls in the 18U Girls division were regulars on the JIC series. The top four finishers in both divisions of the California State Junior Championships came from the ranks of the JIC.
Joey Tate has proved to be the JIC’s top competitor this year, not only winning the three of the series’ six events thus far in the 18U division, but two of the series’ six in the ProAm division. With the exception of Adrian Prasad, who made somewhat of a surprise showing in California, finishing third, the top four finishers among the boys in California were the top-ranked competitors in the JIC 18U division.
Tate got by his first two opponents in California, Nathan Nunes and Cody Hill, giving up just a single rack to Nunes. Cameron Hollingsworth, brother to Landon (#2 among JIC 18U Boys), chalked up three against him in their winners’ side semifinal. Adrian Prasad, in the meantime, got by Cash Lance and Gabe Martinez (who’d previously sent Landon Hollingsworth to the loss side) before defeating Carlos Jinez to join Tate in the hot seat match. Tate and Prasad locked up in a double hill fight that did, eventually, leave Prasad in the hot seat.
On the loss side, the Hollingsworth brothers were looking at the possibility of meeting in the event quarterfinals. Landon did his part, defeating Carlos Jinez 7-2, but Lazaro Martinez, #3 among the JIC 18U Boys, battled Cameron to double hill before eventually defeating him. Martinez made it two brothers in a row, defeating Landon in the quarterfinals 7-4, but Tate stopped Martinez 7-5 in the semifinals for a second shot at Prasad in the hot seat.
Tate completed his title run with a 9-6 rematch victory over Prasad in the finals.
Sofia Mast (Photo courtesy Cris Constantin)
The “Pink Dagger” and “Roadrunner” square off in CA 18U Girls hot seat and finals
You can almost imagine these two young women facing each other before a match. The “Pink Dagger,” (Sofia Mast) pretending, with a quiet smile, that she has a dagger and pretending to thrust it, while the “Roadrunner” (Savannah Easton) takes a step back and with a twinkle in her eye, says, “Beep! Beep.”
The Pink Dagger found its target this past weekend. While the Roadrunner “beep-beeped’ her way into the hot seat, the Dagger came back and downed her in the finals.
The short field made for a short run to their first match. Mast got by the only competitor not drawn from the JIC ranks, Emars Selgado, in the opening round 7-2 and walked into the JIC’s #1-ranked competitor in the 18U Girls division, Bethany Tate, in a winners’ side semifinal (Mast is 4th and Easton 9th in the JIC 18U Girls division). Easton, in the meantime, opened with a 7-4 win over Kennedy Meyman and drew Skylar Hess in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Mast defeated Tate 7-2, as Easton was downing Hess 7-4. Easton then defeated Mast 7-2 and claimed the hot seat.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, it was Hess and Tate who squared off in the event’s quarterfinals, once Hess had eliminated Hayleigh Marion and Tate had defeated Meyman, both 7-3. Hess (5th among the JIC 18U Girls) defeated Tate in those quarterfinals 7-3, but fell to Mast in the semifinals 7-5. The “Pink Dagger” flashed the sharp blade of her precision shooting and cool-as-the-proverbial-cucumber demeanor in the finals, giving up only a single rack to Easton and claiming the CA State Junior Championship title.
After this BEF Junior National qualification gig, the girls and boys of the JIC will be back at itlater this month (Aug. 19-21), when they visit Big Dog Billiards in Des Moines, IA.
The Billiard Education Foundation recently held its 34th annual Junior National Pool Championships, Tuesday, June 21 to Saturday, June 25. The event attracted more than 130 of the top junior pool players across the country.
During the event, the Billiard Education Foundation recognized more than 90 players as Academic All Americans, as they all had a great point average of 3.0 GPA or better. Of those players, 39 players had a 4.0 GPA or higher. Along with the Academic All Americans, the BEF also recognized Hayleigh Marion and Kaden Hillman as the recipients of this year’s Brenden Crocket Sportsman Award for exemplifying the ideals of sportsmanship while at the pool table with ethical behavior, fair play, and integrity throughout the event.
During the week-long tournament BCA Hall of Famer Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman also held his 28th consecutive annual artistic pool competition. Dr. Cue presented the 2022 Artistic Pool awards to this year’s champions: Brody Hillman (U18 boys division), Kaden Hillman (U16 and U14 boys divisions), Sofia Mast (U18 girls division), Hayleigh Marion (U16 girls division), and Skylar Hess (U14 girls division).
On Saturday, June 25th the Junior National Pool Championships concluded with the final matches in each category. In an effort to align with the WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championship, the BEF awarded gold, silver and bronze medals to the top three finishers of each division.
The finalist of this year’s BEF Junior National 9-Ball Championships presented by Iwan Simonis are:
Bronze Medalists:
18UB Niko Konkel (Winston-Salem, NC)
18UG Courtney Hairfield (Chester, VA)
16UB Niko Konkel (Winston-Salem, NC)
16UG Hayleigh Marion (Bristol, VA)
14UB Jordan Witkin (Algonquin, IL)
14UG Noelle Tate (Elm City, NC)
The finalist of this year’s BEF U18 8-Ball National Championship presented by Lucasi Cues are:
Introduced at this year’s BEF Junior National Pool Championships was the Michael J. Repici Girls in Billiards Scholarship. The new scholarship fund provided $1,000 to the three girls 9-Ball division champions. In its inaugural year, the recipients of the Michael J Repici include: U18 9-Ball Champion Skylar Hess; U16 9-Ball Champion Precilia Kinsley; and U14 9-Ball Champion Savannah Easton.
Sponsors for this year’s event included:
Aramith
BilliardsKing.com
Diamond Billiard Products
Iwan Simonis
J. Pechauer Custom Cues
JamUp Apparel
Lucasi Cues
Mako Tips
Predator Group
Schon Custom Cues
Seyberts Billiard Supply
About Billiard Education Foundation
The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) was formed in 1993 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity committed to promoting a love of pool and building the next generation of players through youth programs and academic scholarships. The BEF is managed by the Billiard Congress of America. For more information about the BEF or to learn how you can support the foundation please visit BilliardEducation.org.
