Winners (Kaiden Hunkins, Kodi Allen, Lazaro Martinez III, Skyler Hess, Vivian Liu, Tatum Cutting)
The Billiard Education Foundation recently held its 31st annual Junior National 9-Ball Championships, presented by Iwan Simonis, Tuesday, July 23 to Saturday, July 27. The event attracted more than 170 of the top junior pool players in the country.
During the event the Billiard Education Foundation recognized more than 100 players as Academic All Americans, as they all had a great point average of 3.0 or better. Along with the Academic All Americans, the BEF also recognized Joey Tate and Patricia Huber as the recipients of this year's Brenden Crocket Sportsman Award for exemplifying the ideals of sportsmanship while at the 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 made his 26th consecutive appearance and held his annual artistic pool competition. Dr. Cue, presented the 2019 Artistic Pool awards to this year's champions: Jack Boldt (U18 boys division), Duncan Weiss (U16 boys division), Jayden Liu (U14 boys division), Vivian Liu (U18 girls division), Brianna LaRatta (U16 girls division), and Patricia Huber (U14 division).
On Saturday July 27th the Junior National Championships concluded with the final matches in each category. In an effort to stay more aligned with the WPA World event, 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:
Gold Medalists:
- 18UB Kaiden Hunkins (Waukesha, WI)
- 18UG Vivian Liu (Harvard, MA)
- 16UB Kodi Allen (Tampa, FL)
- 16UG Tatum Cutting (Diamond, OH)
- 14UB Lazaro Martinez, III (New Braunfels, TX)
- 14UG Skyler Hess (Bowie, MD)
Silver Medalists:
- 18UB Lukas Francasso-Verner (Wallingford, CT)
- 18UG Casey Cork (Frankinville, NC)
- 16UB Matthew Wiseley (Poplar Bluff, MO)
- 16UG Tiana Jiang (Harvard, MA)
- 14UB Trenton White (Plant City, FL)
- 14UG Kennedy Meyman (White Bear Lake, MN)
Bronze Medalists:
- 18UB Ricky Evans (St. Peters, MO)
- 18UG Alexis Burciaga (Adrian, MI)
- 16UB Cameron Cummings (Como, TX)
- 16UG Savanna Wolford (Troutville, VA)
- 14UB Joey Tate (Lake Villa, IL)
- 14UG Tatum MacLachlan (Bonsall, CA)
Sponsors for this year's event included:
- Aramith
- Diamond Billiard Products
- Iwan Simonis
- J. Pechauer Custom Cues
- Master Chalk
- McDermott Cues
- Predator Cues
- Ultimate Team Gear
- Billiards Digest
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.
