Midwest 9-Ball Tour / Olathe, KS
by Lea Andrews
Out of the full field of the 128 players who gathered July 17-19 for the Midwest 9-Ball Tour stop at Shooters Billiards in Olathe, KS, only one man, Chip Compton, made it through unscathed. The $4,000-added main event, run by Evelyn and Danny Dysart, was run alongside a $1,000-added one-pocket event, as well as a ladies’ event.
Compton’s 9-4 win over Nick Hickerson landed him in the final four on the winners’ side, where he was met by Dustin Gunia, who was coming off of a hill-hill win over Steve Rector. With a 9-5 win over John Gabriel, Jeremy “Double J” Jones met up in the final four with James Davis, Jr., who’d edged out Chad Vilmont 9-8. Davis’ 9-3 win over Jones pitted him against Compton, who’d sent Gunia west 9-4.
On the one-loss side, Gabe “The Babe” Owen was making a run for the finals, moving through Vilmont 9-2, Gabriel 9-8, and Gunia 9-6 before running into James Baraks in the quarterfinals. Baraks had been on a strong run, posting wins over Hickerson 9-6, Joe Johnson 9-2, and Jones 9-4, and he didn’t stop there. His 9-7 win over Owen put him in the semifinal match against Davis, who’d fallen 9-6 to Compton in the hot seat match.
Davis was ready to take another shot at Compton, though, and he put Baracks in third with a score of 9-5, punching his ticket to the finals. Taking an early lead in the true double-elimination finals, Davis made the possibility of a second set appear likely. After getting up 3-0, though, he soon found himself tied at 4, then up 5-4, but that win turned out to be his last. In true champion fashion, Compton took five games straight, ending with a tournament-winning break and run.
On Saturday, while the 9-ball event was going full-force, the finals of the one-pocket event, which kicked off Thursday with 52 entrants, were playing out with Gabe Owen coming through the one-loss side to take the win in two sets against Danny Harriman, 3-0 and 3-1. On Sunday, in the finals of the 15-entrant ladies’ event, Brittany Colbert took first with a 7-6 win over Michelle McDermott.
Results:
1st Chip Compton $2,200
2nd James Davis, Jr. $1,500
3rd James Baraks $850
4th Gabe Owen $600
5th Dustin Gunia $450
Jeremy Jones
7th John Gabriel $300
Joe Johnson
9th Dustin Dunham $250
Chad Vilmont
Steve Rector
Nick Hickerson
13th Jody McLaughlin $200
Mike Henderson
David Matlock
Gary Lutman
17th John Hennessy $100
Beau Runningan
Jeremy Fournier
Shane McMinn
Joey Gray
Bob Ferguson
Kim Thompson
Demetrius Jelatis
25th Randy Enlow $50
David Heinonen
Lawrence Meek
Dan Olson
Jerrod Frideres
Shawn Turner
Ryan Cobb
Jon Williams
One Pocket Results:
1st Gabe Owen $850
2nd Danny Harriman $600
3rd John Gabriel $430
4th Beau Runningan $300
5th Jeremy Jones $200
Joey Gray
7th Junior Davis $100
Chip Compton
9th Mickey Brandt $75
Dan Olson
Brian Jones
Calvin Lawton
Ladies’ Results:
1st Brittany Colbert $500
2nd Michelle McDermott $380
3rd Jessica Frideres $245
4th Julia Gabriel $100