Bowman, Owen and Frideres take separate events on Midwest 9-Ball Tour

Jesse Bowman came back from a defeat in the hot seat to take two sets away from Dustin Gunia, capturing first place in the $3,500-added 9-Ball event of the Midwest 9-Ball tour on the weekend of July 10-11. Gabe Owen and Jessica Frideres went undefeated to win the $1,000-added One Pocket event, and the $500-added Ladies event, respectively. The main event, hosted by Shooters in Olathe, KS, drew 113 competitors. The One-Pocket event drew 46, while 19 women competed for the ladies' title.

Bowman and Owen went head to head in both the 9-ball competition and the one-pocket event. They met among the winners' side final four in the 9-ball event, with Bowman prevailing 9-5 to get into the hot seat match. Gunia, in the meantime, got by the husband of the ladies event winner, Jerrod Frideres 7-6. Gunia came on strong in the hot seat match, defeating Bowman 9-2.

On the one-loss side, Owen met up with Darren Everett, while Frideres picked up Tom McCluskey. McCluskey and Everett moved into the quarterfinals with identical 9-4 wins over Frideres and Owen. Everett advanced to the semifinals with a 9-5 win over McCluskey and then dropped into third place, following a 9-3 win by Bowman. In a true double elimination final that lasted about an hour, Bowman took two straight sets, 9-5 and 9-2, to take home the first place prize.

Bowman and Owen squared off in the hot seat match in the One-Pocket event. Bowman had sent Steve Deason west 3-0, while Owen was busy sending Mike Lacy over the same way 3-0. Owen gained the hot seat with a 3-1 victory, and waited for what turned out to be the return of Chip Compton, whom he'd sent west 3-1 in the third round. Compton worked his way back, defeating, among others, Danny Hill, Gary Lutman, and Deason. He got by Mickey Brandt in the quarterfinals and Bowman in the semifinals, both 3-2. Owen stopped the charge with a 3-1 victory in the opening set of the true double elimination final.

Jessica Frideres' undefeated trip through the ladies bracket concluded with a 7-3 win over Jennifer Combs, and two straight wins over Nicole Keeney; first in the hot seat 7-3 and later, in the only set necessary in the finals 7-4. Rachel Byrket, who finished third, had been sent west by Keeney from among the winners' side final four. Karen Lincoln, finishing fourth, made an impressive run from deep in the one-loss bracket, only to be stopped by Byrket 7-5 in the quarterfinal match.

9-Ball (bar tables)

1st Jesse Bowman $2,200

2nd Dustin Gunia $1,500

3rd Darren Everett $900

4th Tom McCluskey $650

5th Jerrod Frideres $450

Gabe Owen

7th Brandon Heldenbrand $300

Randy Cole

9th David Matlock $250

Joey Gray

Kenny Turner