2007 North Carolina Championship: September 6–9 Linville, NC

The twentieth annual North Carolina State Championship was held in Linville, the site of the inaugural NC Championship in 1988. Twenty-eight players enjoyed the cool weather, beautiful scenery, and outstanding hospitality Linville croquet is known for.

The format was block play with all players advancing to single-elimination ladders. Despite the assurance of advancing to the playoffs, block games were as serious as ever. Up and coming players gave notice by scoring many upset wins. Rhonda Summer, ranked seventh of the eight players in Second Flight, won six of seven block games to earn top playoff seeding. Steve Summer and Tommy Harrington also argued for handicap reductions by taking the top positions in the First Flight ladder. Eileen Soo and Frank Thompson, experiencing their first Championship Flight games in an American rules tournament, each scored big upsets in the block and into the playoffs. The two players met in the quarterfinals, Thompson advancing to the semifinals and a third-place tie.

But despite the upsets in the block, higher-ranked players proved their mettle in the playoffs. In Second Flight, Russ Hanson and Mark Campbell showed advanced break-making and shooting skills to advance to the final. Oddly enough, the final was mainly a tactical battle, Hanson taking advantage of Campbell’s six-ball deadness to slowly build a lead. Toward the end of the game Campbell cleared both balls and started to make up the deficit, but ran out of time, giving Hanson a singles win to go with his Club Teams win on the same court a month before.

In First Flight top seeds Conrad Haas and Bill Taft struggled through the block, finishing in seventh and fifth place, respectively. But both players won when it counted, advancing through the playoffs to meet in the final. Deadness problems for Haas, and some nice break play by Taft, gave the latter the victory.

In Championship Flight, number three seed Paul Scott started slowly. But he quickly played into form, shown by the two delayed triple peels he intentionally set up and completed in the latter stages of the block. With a bye to the quarterfinals, he advanced to the final with a tough, tactical win over Horace Hayworth and a quick and clinical win over Ed Roberts, who was undefeated to that point.

Number two seed Jeff Soo had a strong block performance, including a couple of “half Spooners” (games ending 26-1) and finishing with a block record of 5/5, +118 net points. His closest game came in the quarterfinals, where he and Ron Lloyd played a game that resembled Association Croquet in some respects, as they traded hit-ins on the very fast lower court at Grandfather. Soo won and then fended off an aggressive challenge from Frank Thompson to advance to the final.

In the final, Scott offered Soo the attack when Soo was set with a tight but highly angled cut rush to Scott’s position. Soo succeeded, leaving Scott a twenty yard shot at a double about a yard off the boundary. Scott shot and missed, and Soo went round — not without self-imposed difficulties along the way — and set a tight leave. Scott — rarely one to corner — took the shot at the only ball he could see, nearly thirty yards to a ball inches from the line. The shot missed and Soo finished 26-2 to win the title for the second time.

Ron Lloyd directed and NC District President Frank Thompson managed; many volunteers helped with set-up, board-keeping, and court monitoring.

Junior Doubles report by coach Bill Hartmann

On the weekend, the tournament also featured a Junior Doubles division. Four teams from Coach Bill Hartmann’s Gamewell Middle School program were joined by Matthew and Sarah Essick of the Meadows Mallet Club.

The winners were Kayla Smith and James Ray. Kayla squealed “I was getting tired of second place.” James and Kayla moved ahead and never looked back. Ryan Sigmon and David Maxon played catch up and just ran out of time.

Kayla is a freshman in an early college program; David and Ryan are freshman at West Caldwell High School. James is in the 8th grade at Gamewell Middle School.

Sarah and Matthew won their match for third place after the second last turn rotation.

Paul Scott, Ed Roberts and Frank Thompson led a clinic on Saturday morning at the Linville Court.

The ten juniors filled the round table with pizza and drinks at the Italian restaurant. The girls were hosted by Jerry Maldonado and enjoyed an Hickory music concert. The boys stayed with Mary Stuart Hartmann at Grandfather Golf and Country Club. After dinner, the boys played basketball and football until it was dark and they were out of breath.

Becky Essick helped the juniors on Sunday.

An ASU student photographer, Jesska Vouthivong, who works weekends at Eseola Lodge, enjoyed using her camera on eager subjects dressed in white.

Championship Flight Singles

First Flight Singles

Second Flight Singles

Junior Doubles

Last modified on 26 September 2007