Niko Konkel, Lazaro Martinez and Landon Hollingsworth
Bethany Tate, Skylar Hess, & Jas Makhani round out Season 3’s Stop #6 winners
They’re coming around the far turn and headed for home, so to speak.
The 20-something and below, ever-expanding roster of the Junior International Championships’, sponsored by Viking Cues, third season have just completed the 6th stop on their 2023 schedule of eight events. There are two stops to go, after which four of the five divisions will compete in a Championship event. The ProAm division will compete in September’s final stop at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA and at the end of that event, the division’s top two competitors in the rankings will be awarded entry fees for an Open event of their choice in the coming year. The other four divisions will play their final stop and then compete in a separate Championship event. The two 13U divisions will hold their final stop and their Championship event on the same weekend in Roanoke. The two 18U divisions will compete in the final stop and then advance to their Championship event in conjunction with Pat Fleming’s International Open in Norfolk, VA on the weekend of Oct. 30-Nov. 4.
The headline story of Stop #6, held this past weekend (July 14-16) at Railyard Billiards in Louisville, KY was the second straight win for Texas native Lazaro Martinez III in the 18U Boys Division, which, at this latest event, drew 34 entrants. He chalked up his first division win in his first appearance on the 2023 JIC season at Stop #5 last month at Griff’s in Las Vegas. He went undefeated both times. Martinez also won the ProAm division of Stop #6 (39 entrants), coming from the loss side to down Niko Konkel in the finals (stay tuned for further details).
Mackenzie Cuda, Bethany Tate and Courtney Hairfield
Bethany Tate came from the loss side to down Courtney Hairfield in the finals of the 18U Girls division, which drew 9 entrants, while Skylar Hess went undefeated through a field of 8 entrants, downing Bethany Tate’s sister, Noelle, in the finals of the 13U Girls division. Jas Makhani, the top-ranked player in the 13U Boys division (12 entrants) won his second straight JIC title, going undefeated this past weekend and downing Landen Dunlap in the finals.
In the ProAm division, which, like a middle-school class, mixes boys and girls from different age groups, a number of different competitors from the age-specific divisions are thrown together in a mix, demonstrating that skills are not always related to age or gender. Lazaro Martinez did not do as well in this division the first time out, last month in Las Vegas, finishing in the tie for 13th. This time around, coming into the event at #45 in the division rankings, Martinez got by a number of the division’s ‘heavier hitters’ to complete his run of four winners’-side and four loss-side opponents (with the loss sandwiched in the middle). He got by Matthew Bishop (2), Nathan Childress (5), Cameron Hollingsworth (4) and Nathan Nunes (2) to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against the division’s #1-ranked player (going into and out of the event), Landon Hollingsworth.
Niko Konkel, in the meantime, who came into the event at #32 in the division, downed Jake Jackson (0), Max Moore (2) and 13-year-old Noelle Tate (1) to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Justin Mawyin.
Hollingsworth sent Martinez to the loss side 7-4 and was joined in the hot seat match by Konkel, who’d defeated Mawyin 7-3. Hollingsworth came into the hot seat match as the presumptive favorite, but Konkel sent him to the semifinals 7-5. On the loss side, Martinez got by Cameron Hollingsworth 7-2 and then, after defeating another ‘presumptive’ favorite in the division (#9 in the rankings) Joey Tate 7-2, he went on to shut out Landon Hollingsworth in the semifinals.
It’s hard to know whether Konkel, waiting in the hot seat for someone to emerge from the loss side semifinals, might have been harboring a little concern about facing either of the two top competitors in the division, but was unlikely to be comforted by the knowledge that he’d be facing the competitor (Martinez) who’d just beaten both of them by an aggregate score of 14-2.
Martinez justified the latter concern. He downed Konkel 9-5 to claim his first 2023 JOC ProAm title.
In his undefeated run through the 18U Boys division, Martinez defeated Landon Hollingsworth (#2 in this division) in the hot seat match 7-5 and Joey Tate in the finals 9-6. With two events to go, everybody in the 18U Boys and ProAm divisions will likely be keeping an eye on Martinez as they step to the tables next month for Stop #7 and again, in September, at the final stop.
In the 18U Girls Division, Bethany Tate did not have to face the division’s #1-ranked player, Skylar Hess, partly because Bethany’s sister, Noelle, defeated her 7-4 in the opening round of play. Bethany then defeated sister Noelle 7-1 in the winners’ side semifinal and faced #2 in the 18U Girls division, Courtney Hairfield, in the hot seat match. Tate and Hairfield battled to double hill in that hot seat match before Hairfield prevailed.
On the loss side, Bethany almost had to face sister Noelle a second time. Noelle had followed her earlier loss to Bethany with a 7-1 victory over Kailye Stevens and then, in the quarterfinals, locked up in a double hill battle against Mackenzie Cuda. Cuda prevailed to square off against Bethany. Tate gave up only a single rack in that semifinal match and got a second shot at Hairfield, waiting for her in the hot seat. Tate completed her trip to the winners’ circle with a 9-5 rematch victory over Hairfield in the finals.
Noelle Tate, Skylar Hess and Gia Fiore
Hess comes into 13U Girls event ranked #4 in the division, leaves on top
With her #1-ranking in the 18U Girls division, Skylar Hess would appear to have an affinity for going up against older competition. She entered this past weekend’s competition in the 13U Girls division as #4 in the rankings, behind (in order) Jordan Helfrey, Skylynn Elliott and Noelle Tate. When it was over, her undefeated victory put her ahead of (in order) Elliott (who finished 5th), Tate (who was runner-up) and Helfrey (who did not compete). Hess downed Tate twice, hot seat 7-4 and finals 9-7.
Jas Makhani continued his domination of the 13U Boys division with his undefeated, five-match run through the field. He didn’t allow a single rack against him through his first two matches, at which point the #2-ranked competitor in the division, Hayden Ernst, challenged him double hill in a winners’ side semifinal. He survived that challenge, advancing to meet and defeat Landen Dunlap 7-3 in the hot seat match.
On the loss side, Ernst, looking for a rematch, downed Maddox Griggs 7-3 to get into the quarterfinals and John Barsamian 7-5 to get out of them, only to be eliminated by Dunlap 7-3 in the semifinals. Makhani downed Dunlap a second time, in the finals 9-2 to claim his second straight 2023 JIC 13U Boys title.
The next stop on the Junior International Championships series, sponsored by Viking Cues is scheduled for the weekend of August 18-20 and will be hosted by Big Dog Billiards in Des Moines, Iowa.
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