Wisconsin Dells October 2002 Tournament (Oct 12-13, 2002)
Director's Report
Seventeen first time players joined the Dells irregulars, and thanks to them we topped 100 players for the first time, although the official count depends on, well, when it counts. With 103 officially registered, we were set to go. Then two dropped out, two days and one day before the start, so it was down to 101. Then two showed up on Saturday morning who claimed to have preregistered, as required. They had a checkbook entry to verify their claim, a long-standing history of attendance at this tournament, and a good standing with the director, so it was back to 103. Then two never showed up, so it was down to 101 again. Then one player, after losing his first three games, took a really long lunch break (still eating, as far as I know), so we were at 100. Finally, after Round 10, a player informed me that he had a long drive home and he needed to get going, thanked me for a good time, and left us at 99. Since we had 101 players for 3 games, 100 players for 7 games and 99 for 2 games, I guess we have a pretty good basis for saying we reached the 100 mark. But I hope next year it is an unambiguous and unmoving 100 (or more). Division one: Keith and James were two of the three lowest seeds, and Marty was in the lower half, so to finish in the top half of this traditionally strong field was quite an accomplishment for these three. Perhaps even more impressive is the rise of John O'Laughlin, who played his first tournament one year ago at the Dells in a lower division. He was in first place after Day one, which included a win over Brian. Jim and Joey were always lurking, and it's no surprise to see them finish near the top. The dangerous but disarming Mark Kenas continues to make his comeback from a long layoff. And congrats to Brian for another stellar performance. Just to show us that even a World Champ can have his bad moments, he dropped his final two games on Day one in resounding fashion. After losing by 197 to John O, he looked to be in good shape against Marty Gabriel, playing a late bingo for a 134 point lead and taking the last six tiles out of the bag. He had seen a couple of unlikely bingo chances for Marty, but the makeup of the unseen tiles didn't worry him much. In the words of Emeril, Bam! and Bam!! A 269 point turnaround on the final play made Marty a 135 point winner. Turns out he had REEQUI(p)s, a 3x3 for 221 points, together with 48 points from the six tiles left on Brian's rack, any one of which on Marty's rack would have prevented Marty's win. But, in typical Brian fashion, he shrugged it off, won all the rest of his games and took home another first place title. Division Two: Peter tells me before the start that he hasn't played since last year's tourney, so he wasn't expecting much. Looks like the layoff didn't hurt. Richard continues his quest to return to the expert ranks with a very strong second place showing. Jason is an up and coming star, and Joe Gaspard continues to tease us with his potential. I won't be surprised to see either of them playing consistently in the top division. Joe Groessel almost always performs well enough to keep him near the top of Division 2 ratings, and I suspect he could get to Division 1 any time he really wanted to. Kitty, Walt and Devonna had fine performances and also have the potential to go higher. Julia's position as the lowest seed makes her eighth place finish quite impressive. And Beth wavered in deciding between Divs 3 and 2 for her first tournament (based on pre-tournament discussions and recommendations, she could play either). I imagine Div 3 is glad to see what she decided. A Division 2 ninth place finish in her first tournament showed she was where she belonged. And she did it with only seven blanks in twelve games. Division Three: Rita, Mary and Bobbi all had a chance at first place entering the last game, but Rita proceeded to win her sixth consecutive game and ended up the clear winner in our largest Division. Bobbi didn't even stick around to claim her prize - something about getting back to the Twin Cities in time to see the end of the Twins/Angels playoff game. That turned out to be well worth the haste :-). Second place appeared to be a dead heat until we checked the math, which resulted in a second place finish for another newcomer, Ron Malzer. Perhaps an asterisk could be attached to Ron's newcomer status, because he was a club player in the late `70s and early `80s. Still, with no tournament history and after such a long layoff, his was a stellar performance. Chuck's third place result might bump him up to Division 2 if he can maintain his new rating until next year. Relative newcomer Sue Rhea and relative veteran Helen Hankwitz came from near the bottom of the field to post near top-of-field finishes. Division Four: Three of the five new players in this Division finished in the top half. Inexperience may have cost Tony the title, as he didn't realize how close he was to winning it all in the final game against Matt, which Tony won by 75 points. One more point for a tie, two for the title, was all it would have taken. Matt, with all of a year's experience behind him, may still have found a way to win, but he was happy to not have to find out. In only his second tournament, Steve was in the hunt all the way. Last year's Div 5 winner, Nick Pipitone, showed it was no fluke by placing in the money again this year in a higher Division. Lisa showed her mettle in choosing to play up, and newcomers Jason and David were very competetive in their first tournament. Division Five: Maryanne had the most dominating performance in the entire tournament, but her victory wasn't assured until her win over Sallie in the penultimate game. Sallie eked out a one point win over Charlie in the last game to hold on to second place. Five first-time players finished in the upper half, Marty, Steve, Charlie, M.E. and Joi - a promising start for some possible future stars. With ten newcomers in this division, it was hard to know what to expect. But they all played like veterans, at least with respect to rules and etiquette. Most of them admitted to the usual first-tournament jitters and excitement, but their performance was outstanding. They're all welcome additions to the tournament scene. One of the first-time players, Mary Oldani, won only one game, yet made one of the most impressive plays I saw in the entire tournament. With STORY on the bottom of the board at 15f, she front-extended it with cLERE for a 39 point, 10-letter cLERESTORY. That's a major league play for any Division or experience level. Steve PellinenThe Results
DIVISON ONE 1 Brian Cappelletto 2012 10-2 +986 2 Jim Kramer 2005 8-4 +173 3 Marty Marcus 1776 8-4 -224 4 John O'Laughlin 1808 7-5 +571 5 Joey Mallick 1951 7-5 +377 6 Keith Cejmer 1691 7-5 - 22 7 James Frankki 1626 7-5 - 86 8 Mark Kenas 1840 6-6 +305 DIVISION TWO 1 Peter Schwartzman 1527 10-2 +592 2 Richard Lauder 1541 9-3 +981 3 Jason Brooks 1579 8-4 +316 4 Joe Gaspard 1567 8-4 +215 5 Joe Groessel 1599 7-4-1 +141 6 Kitty Steinwand 1427 7-4-1 +113 7 Walt Blue 1425 7-5 +197 8 Julia Bogle 1287 7-5 + 82 9 Beth Amos unr 6-6-1 +64 10 Devonna Gee 1579 6-6 +293 DIVISION THREE 1 Rita McGee 1189 9-3 +654 2 Ron Malzer unr 8-4 +447 3 Chuck Eisele 1393 8-4 +435 4 Mary Becker 1244 8-4 +147 5 Bobbi Hendrickson 1255 8-4 + 9 6 Gina DuMez 1314 8-4 -157 7 Sue Rhea 1151 7-5 +306 8 Joyce Zmorzynski 1320 7-5 +303 9 Helen Hankwitz 1151 7-5 +267 10 Barbara Drinkwine 1334 7-5 +174 11 Ken Sherlock 1184 7-5 +123 12 Susan Love 1191 6-6 +305 13 Steve Albrecht 1224 6-6 +233 14 Angelina Scroggins 1318 6-6 +232 DIVISION FOUR 1 Matt Lavine 1035 9-3 +775 2 Tony Stewart unr 9-3 +773 3 Steve Lent 1091 9-3 +544 4 Nick Pipitone 1013 7-5 +228 5 Lisa Frankki 996 7-5 -191 6 Jason Albert unr 6-6 -148 7 David Herfel unr 5-7 -38 DIVISION FIVE 1 Maryanne Lee 873 11-1 +882 2 Sallie Gilmore 763 9-3 +243 3 Marty McCarthy unr 8-4 +797 4 Steve Hartsman unr 8-4 +514 5 Charlie Klasen unr 8-4 +296 6 Tammy Weatherly 761 8-4 +255 7 Mary Ann Hertz 674 7-5 +479 8 Ruth Ann Phillips 585 7-5 +264 9 Leonard Doerrfeld 841 7-5 +166 10 M.E. Froelich unr 7-5 +123 11 Joi Brooks unr 7-5 - 66 12 Kathleen Murphy 641 6-6 +161