1st Andy Bohnsack went undefeated (kinda) with a 3.5-0.5 +284 record (the half win indicates a tie), continuing his recent run up the yearly standings. He started with a solid win over Charles Reinke, 418-364, finding DAPSONE and STANDEES to Charles' rare find of DIARCHIC. In round two, facing another strong player in Bryan Benwitz, Andy was rightfully unintimidated, and won a high-scoring contest, 466-411, thanks to finds of DICROTAL and THIEVES. Andy's half-win came in the next round when he fought Steve Hartsman to a draw, 401-401, good for the first tie game of the year (and hopefully last, since ties disrupt the delicate dichotomy of the concept of wins and losses). Andy put the finishing touches on his undefeated (kinda) evening by taking Dennis Lloyd to (proverbial) school with a 472-297 win, flaunting his bingo knowledge with ENDPLAY, NOTATING, and ISOLATOR.

2nd Bryan Benwitz assembled a 3-1 record for the second straight week, although last week's +493 spread was better than his +274 spread this week (it also netted him first rather than second place). A 415-303 win against Helen Flores in round one was revenge for Helen's win in their previous encounter; Bryan got down FORGETS and AUXESIS to make sure his revenge was extra vengeful. Revenge was decidedly not exacted upon Bryan's next opponent, Andy Bohnsack, as Bryan was felled 411-466. Bryan got back on track with a pair of high-probability bingos (LIERNES, LARDIEST) in a 426-368 win over Lynda Finn. Saving his best for last, Bryan broke through the 500-point barrier in his final game, beating Steve Hartsman 507-348 despite Steve's nice find of CHANTEYS. Bryan played EROTICA, FOISTING, and the hard-to-challenge NONFUELS; NONFUEL is a word, but it's one of those NON- words that's only an adjective. Meanwhile, stuff like NONCOLAS is a word.

Steve Hartsman went 2.5-1.5 +45, using his tie game to beat out a bunch of players with 2-2 records. He showed admirable consistency by bingoing exactly once in each of his games, although next time he should show even more consistency by bingoing five times in each of his games. He got a big win in round one when he bested Sara McLaughlin 442-310, getting AORISTS to Sara's LITTERS. In round two, Steve deployed his bingo of LISTENS to defeat the bingoless Lynda Finn, 364-292. The aforementioned tie against Andy Bohnsack, 401-401 all but guaranteed that Steve would end with a .5 on his final record - if he had tied his fourth game as well, all would have been made right, but that didn't happen. Instead, Steve lost to Bryan Benwitz 348-507, leaving Steve still looking for his first win against the Bryaniac.

In other news, Sara McLaughlin set a personal best when she bingoed four times (CREWING, BONNIEST, SAURIES, OUREBIS) in a 468-359 win against Thomas Reinke.