Ike Runnels
Eighteen of the Midwest's diehard big table players showed up for the Open event at the McDermott Midwest Cup in Waukegan, Illinois and master player Ike Runnels went home the champion. Runnels, of Kankakee, Illinois battled his way through a few close matches and came out on top, just above the infamous Jonathan Demet of Racine, Wisconsin.
On the right side of the bracket Demet beat Bill Fowler of Deerfield, Illinois 7-4 and Runnels beat Frankie Bashir of Waukegan, Illinois in a double hill match, leaving the two winners to fight for the hot seat. Runnels upset Demet 7-1 sending him over to the one-loss side of the bracket.
While Runnels patiently waited to see who would play against him in the final match, the shooters on the one-loss side had to play perfectly against their tough competition. Fowler defeated Milwaukee's Jon Giles 6-1. Henry Brodt of Glenview, Illinois beat out Bashir 6-3. Fowler maintained some top notch pool by beating Brodt 6-4. Demet however showed no mercy against Fowler and got him again, this time in a hill-hill match. After all of his hard work Demet came back for revenge against Runnels. They played a close match but Runnels pulled ahead and won 7-5, becoming the first Open division McDermott Midwest Cup Champion.
