Maria Flores, Randy Rodriguez and Felipe Flores Jr
Denver, Colorado Saturday, September 8th, 2012 – 19 juniors traveled all the way from Wyoming and from across the Colorado’s front-range to compete in this year’s 7th Annual Colorado Junior State 9-Ball Championships held at the Wynkoop Brewing Company in downtown Denver, Colorado.
Geoffrey Quezada from Arvada defeated Ricky Smiley from Colorado Springs 7-4 in the hot-seat match. On the losers-side, Randy Rodriguez defeated Drake Spencer whom finished 5th-6th and on the other side of the board it was Taren Stewart of Westminster who defeated young 9-year-old-star Evan Balogh-Bruce who finished 6th in the tournament. Randy then defeated Taren who finished 4th and since he was the highest finishing 15-under he also won a $300 gift card to purchase his 1st Jacoby custom cue.
Randy being on a roll, continued by defeating Rickey to force him to finish 3rd place finish in the tournament. In the finals, due to the double elimination formats Randy would have to beat Geoffrey twice to become the next champion. The first set was a nail bitter going hill-hill 6-6 going to 7, and it was Randy who won the 1st set. The second set, was a breeze for the Randy the young straight shooter from Cheyenne, WY dominating the final set 7-2 to become your next 2012 Colorado Junior State 9-Ball Champion☺
This year included a special presentation; the Flores family whom lost their pool player husband/dad Felipe Flores to a fatal car accident this year donated the $600 Jacoby cue. Felipe’s wife Dawn and two children Maria and Felipe JR. waited all night just to present the champion with this honorable grand prize.
A special thank-you to the following sponsors; room host- Wynkoop Brewing Company, www.str8-shots.com, Jacoby Custom Cues, The Flores family and WPBA touring pro Melissa Little-tournament director. Other notable Colorado state champions players include James Fortin, now WPBA pro-player Nicole Keeney, and Malek Haj-Hussein.
For more information, photos, results and future events please visit www.wynkoop.com or www.melissalittle.com
2012 Junior Champion: Randy Rodriguez – Trophy & $600 Jacoby Custom Cue
Runner-Up Champion: Geoffrey Quezada – trophy
3rd Place: Ricky Smiley – trophy
4th Place: Taren Stewart – Gift Bag & $300 Jacoby custom cue gift card
5th Place: Drake Spencer – Gift Bag
6th Place: Evan Balogh-Bruce – Gift Bag
Highest Finishing Female: Aryanna Davis
