Arizona News & Events

Results from 2013 AZ ACS State Championships

By Mike Howerton – AZ Billiards

The 9th Annual ACS Arizona State Championships crowned their winners over February 22nd through 24th at Bullshooters in Phoenix. Four different divisions were contested, including Men's & Women's Singles and Teams. The singles divisions kicked off on Friday night and the ladies saw seventeen players, an increase of over 200% from last year, doing battle for the title. Defending champion Theresa Eibner had the misfortune of drawing tournament newcomer Sophia Morquecho in the first round and that was the beginning of the end for Eibner's hopes of keeping her title. Morquecho would remain undefeated to the match for the hot-seat, where she beat Cathy Kelley 4-2. Kelley would bounce back from that loss with a win over Claudia Morado on the left side of the board, but the rematch with Morquecho in the finals would see Sophia score another 4-2 victory for first place.


The Men's singles division saw a slight increase from last year, with twenty two men competing this year. Last year's winner, Richie Daniels, looked like he was in good shape to win the title again this year as he cruised to the hot-seat match. Unfortunately for Daniels, Junior Flores had other plans and sent Daniels to the left side of the board. Daniels dispatched Jim Hendricks on the one loss side to earn the right for another shot at Flores in the finals, but it wasn't to be this year as Flores won the first set of the finals to earn the crown.

The teams got underway on Saturday with five ladies teams and seven men's/open teams. Both of these divisions saw an increase in participation from last year. The Stacked Racks (Mari Simonson, Teri Curtis, Sara Sorg & Claudia Morado) represented Dave's on Northern and took the hot-seat with a 10-7 win over Barefoot 4 Play (Kristin Haney, Peg Hurst, Lisa Turlip & Laura Newtar) out of Barefoot Bobs in Prescott.

On the one loss side, Miller Time (Sara Miller, Cathy Kelley, Leandrea Gaff and Becky Onnembo) were looking for a chance to avenge an earlier loss to Stacked Racks and they would get that chance after a lopsided 10-4 win over Barefoot 4 Play.

The final match was a close one, but in the end it was Stacked Racks with a 10-8 win and the ACS Ladies Team Championship Title The men's/open teams division looked to be a race for second place as The Foul Five (Andy Davis, Tim Henrickson, Tom Schmitt, Pete Lhotka and Bob Soto) out of Barefoot Bob's were completely unstoppable. The Five defeated the Nugget Nite Owls (Ann Burgess, Ray Burgess, Tim McNamaman, Dave Gutierrez and Carlos De Santiago) 16-0 for the hot-seat.

The Nite Owls faced off against The Nuggeteers (Francis Case, Andrew Rocha, Dennis Huntley, Mike LeGrand and Willie Thompson) on the one loss side and won the match to earn another shot at the Foul ones in the finals.

While the Nite Owls would get on the board in the finals, it was really no contest with The Foul Five cruising to a 16-2 win and the ACS State Championship Title. Lee White ran another great event this year and expressed her thanks to Mike Bates and Bullshooters staff for the $1000 in added prize money and for taking great care of the players all weekend long.

PAYOUTS:

Women’s Singles:
1st Sophia Morquecho $225
2nd Cathy Kelly $135
3rd Claudia Morado $85
4th Leandra Gaff $25

Men's Singles:
1st Junior Flores $280
2nd Richie Daniels $140
3rd Jim Henrickson $85
4th Burt Balancad $55
5th Chris Carpenter $25
5th Andy Davis $25

Women’s Teams:
1st Stacked Racks $360
2nd Miller Time $200
3rd Barefoot 4 Play $100

Men's/Open Teams:
1st Foul Five $520
2nd Nugget Nite Owls $300
3rd The Nuggeteers $200
4th Hot Shots $125