Virginia States

04/17/04 in Fredericksburg, VA

OPEN Division

Thanks to Harvey Brandt for the results.

I am sure you all have been waiting with baited breath and discs in 
 hand (at least JK) for the news on the 6th Annual VA States DDC event.
 You couldn't have asked for, nor received better weather. Sunny, light 
 and variable winds, with temperatures in the 70s. Dave Taylor, as with 
 every year, put together a wonderful event with added cash in the 
 purse. And this year he made shirts for the top three teams instead of 
 the traditional pottery.
 14 teams pulled it together and were seeded into 3 pools. The top 2 
 from each pool would go on to the semi A pool and the other 8 teams 
 would play in the semi B pool. Initial play went mostly according to 
 seeding with only 1 of the top two seeds in a pool failing to advance 
 to the A semi. That was in the B pool where the brothers Elsner upset 
 number 2 (pool seed) Richard Paschal and Jeff Woessner from the 
 resurgent DDC hotbed, North Carolina. However, Paschal and Woessner very 
 nearly took out the top seed (Damon/Lewis) in an exciting last game of 
 pool play. That would have brought on the dreaded tie breaking 
 procedure.
 The advancing teams by pool:
 Pool A
 Harvey Brandt / Dave Hesselberth
 Eric Olsen / Eric Wooten
 Pool B
 Conrad Damon / Jeff Lewis
 Jim Elsner / John Elsner
 Pool C
 Carlton Howard / Dave Taylor
 Jon Cohn / Tim Cohn
   In the Semi A it became interesting in the quest to advance to the 
 finals as Brandt/Hesselberth beat Howard/Taylor 15-5 just before 
 Howard/Taylor took Damon/Lewis 15-10. Damon used his vast experience to 
 immediately figure out that his team was completely out of it, just 
 before being informed that the top two teams would advance to a finals. 
 Damon then used his superlative math skills to deduct his team would 
 need to beat Brandt/Hesselberth by 10 if they wanted to make the 
 finals. Oh, if only that were the case. Crafty old Brandt knew the 
 score better having screwed up numerous tie breakers in the past, and 
 realized that his team needed only to stay within 7 at the final score 
 to knock out Damon/Lewis in that much loved tie breaking action. Woe to 
 Brandt/Hesselberth as they fell 15-7.
 For you tie breaking junkies, it made it:
 Damon/Lewis, minus 5 and plus 8 for a plus 3
 Brandt/Hesselberth, plus 10 and minus 8 for a plus 2
 Howard/Taylor, plus 5 and minus 10 for a minus 5
 Damon/Lewis advance on points and Brandt/Hesselberth advance on the 
 head to head with Howard/Taylor. Oh for that 1 point swing in the final 
 pool game as Damon/Lewis would have been out on points and then out on 
 head to head with Howard/Taylor. BECAUSE,
 Damon/Lewis then flexed their muscle and trashed Brandt/Hesselberth in 
 the finals, 21-18 and 21-10.
 Final standings in the Semi A:
 1- Damon/Lewis,  4-1 in pool, 2-0 in the finals
 2- Brandt/Hesselberth,  4-1 in pool, 0-2 in the finals
 3- Howard/Taylor,  4-1 in pool (and the only win over Damon/Lewis)
 4- Olsen/Wooten, 2-3 in pool
 5- Elsner/Elsner, 1-4 in pool
 6- J. Cohn/T. Cohn, 0-5 in pool, withdrew because of injury.
 The Semi B pool presented great action as well. Sadly, a team bailed 
 after the initial pool play so it became a 7 team group.
 Paschal/Woessner showed their strength going undefeated in the pool but 
 not without some tough games against veteran Bill Wright paired with 
 newbie Rob Knapik (watch for them in Aspen?), and against veteran Stu 
 Hubbs (again, NC) paired with even more newbie Kristine Spekkens 
 (Mandy's prodigy from Ithaca). So the final standings were:
 7- Richard Paschal/Jeff Woessner, 6-0 in pool
 8- Stu Hubbs/Kristine Spekkens, 5-1 in pool
 9- Rob Knapik/Bill Wright, 4-2 in pool
 10- Jack Cooksey/Bethany Sanchez, 3-3 in pool
 11- Eddy Cohn/Joey Cohn, 2-4 in pool
 12 tie- Jim Gaarder/Wayne Biever, 0-5 in pool
 12 tie- (Mary) Louie Cohn/Augy Cohn, 0-5 in pool (doesn't appear they 
 play a last game against each other)
 14- Bryan Steffen/Ronnie Turner, withdrew because of disc golf
 And three courts of folks even convened in Arlington on Monday morning 
 to finish what DDC couldn't be completed on the weekend. A tradition in 
 the making.
 Be sure to check www.wfdf.org (look for the schedule search link) for 
 other DDC action around all summer and fall.
 And the WFDF sanctioned World DDC Championship dates have been changed 
 after  much discussion in VA. Because of the PDGA scheduling of the US 
 Masters golf event on the traditional AZ States dates, AZ States and 
 the World DDC event has been moved to OCTOBER 28-31. Mixed Division 
 (the first world title in DDC) will start it all off on Thursday 
 afternoon (fly in the morning), Open Division on Friday. The AZ overall 
 on Saturday, finish DDC on Sunday, finish the overall with freestyle 
 that afternoon. Put it on the schedule.
 Harvey Brandt
 29th Annual AZ State Overall
 WFDF DDC World Championships