Pro Am Division – Brent Worth, Landon Hollingsworth and Riley Adkins
Landon Hollingsworth won the ProAm division of Stop #4 on the Junior International Championships, sponsored by Viking Cues, this past weekend (May 5-7) at Michael’s Billiards in Fairfield, OH; not for the first time and undoubtedly, not the last. The same could be said for Hayden Ernst, who won the weekend’s 13U Boys event (his third 2023 win in the division). Joining these two familiar names on their respective division list of winners were a pair of names new to the JIC winners’ circle. Nathan Nunes, who, last year, finished 2nd and 3rd at stops in the ProAm division, as well as finishing 3rd (once) in the 18U Boys division, won Stop #4’s 18U Boys event, while Jordan Helfrey picked up the wins in both the 18U and 13U girls divisions.
Midway through the JIC’s eight-event season, Hollingsworth sits atop the ‘leaderboard’ in the ProAm Division (two wins), with Brent Worth in second place (one win). Worth heads up the 18U division, with a single win in four appearances, while Nunes is second with this past weekend’s single win in three appearances. Hollingsworth is 3rd. Skylar Hess, absent at this most recent event, is on top of the 18U girls board, having won all three of the events in which she has competed. In her absence, Helfrey won this past weekend and with one appearance, is in 4th place, behind Courtney Hairfield and Noelle Tate.
Skylnn Elliott is atop the 13U Girls division, with two runner-up finishes (won by Skylar Hess and this past weekend, Helfrey) and a 4th place finish. Noelle Tate is 2nd (one win) with Hess in 3rd place in the division. Hayden Ernst, having won every 13U divisional event in which he’s competed, is the undisputed ‘king’ of the 13U Boys, with Deke Squier in 2nd place and Jas Makhani in 3rd. Clayte Davis, the only other competitor to win an event in the division (at which Ernst did not compete), is a distant 12th, with just the one win.
Hollingsworth took the ‘long way around’ to chalk up his win in the 21-entrant ProAm division. He was defeated in the opening round by the winner of the 18U division, Nathan Nunes, and had to head out on a seven-match, loss-side streak to get himself into the finals against Brent Worth. And just when he thought things were running smoothly, with four notches on his loss-side belt, he had to contend with a double-hill battle against the eventual winner of the 13U Boys division, Hayden Ernst.
Worth, in the meantime, was investing three-match energy to get into the hot seat match and like Hollingsworth, had to get by Hayden Ernst in a winners’ side semifinal (7-5) to get there. Riley Adkins, in his only appearance in the division this year, got by four opponents to get to the hot seat match, including a winners’ side semifinal 7-1 victory over Gage Mouret. Worth claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Adkins and likely watched with some trepidation as Hollingsworth kept moving in his direction from the loss side.
About 10 minutes after Worth claimed the hot seat, Hollingsworth won his 3rd loss-side match 7-2 against Jas Makhani and then survived his double-hill battle against Ernst, his rematch against Nunes (7-1) and punched his ticket to the finals with a 7-3 victory over Adkins. He downed Worth in the finals 9-6.
Hollingsworth and Worth competed in the 21-entrant, 18U Boys division, as well. With somewhat less success. Neither made it to the hot seat, semifinals or finals. This was all about Nathan Nunes, who came from the loss side after being defeated by Jas Makhani 7-2 in the second round and mounted his own seven-match, loss-side streak that ended with the 18U title in his pocket (so to speak).
Makhani was responsible for sending Hollingsworth to the loss side (7-1, 3rd round) and then defeated Bryzen Ace Manipula 7-3 in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Dustin Muir in the meantime, was busy sending Worth to the loss side 7-3 in the other winners’ side semifinal. Muir claimed the hot seat 7-2 over Makhani.
On the loss side, in his first match, Worth exacted a teaspoon of revenge for his loss in the ProAm event by ending Hollingsworth’s three-match, loss-side trip 7-5. He was joined in the quarterfinals by Nunes, who’d chalked up loss-side win #5 against Manipula and then, spoiled Worth’s hope for further advancement by defeating him 7-3 in those quarterfinals. He then gave Makhani his come-uppance, winning their semifinal rematch 7-1. Nunes completed his winning campaign with a 9-3 win in the finals.
Helfrey goes undefeated twice, winning both 18U and 13U Girls divisions
It took her a total of five matches, all wins. Jordan Helfrey won three in row to claim the 4-entrant 18U Girls title and two in a row to win the 3-entrant 13U Girls title. Courtney Hairfield downed Molly O-Reilly 7-2 as Helfrey got by Skylynn Elliott 7-4 in the opening round. On the loss side, Elliott downed O’Reilly 7-1 and then, Helfrey defeated Hairfield 9-7 to claim the hot seat. Hairfield came back from a semifinal win over Elliott 5-1 and was then defeated by Helfrey 9-7 in the finals.
In the 13U battles, Helfrey came out on top of a round robin bracket to take that title too.
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