1st Thomas Reinke prevailed over the field with a 4-1 +175 record. He couldn't have asked for a better start when he notched two victories in round one, 444-263 against Wendy Bialek (playing bingos of FREAKOUT and CELOSIA) and 455-375 against Bryan Benwitz (AURICLE, SLEIGHED, and REGRANT to Bryan's BENZINES and RETAILS). Things proceeded well after that with a pair of well-earned wins over the always-tough Mark Kenas, 445-384 and 484-434. It all fell apart in the final round, however, as Thomas was flattened by his brother Charles, 315-512. Thomas played a single bingo of CESAREAN, while Charles played SDAINES#, RETIREE, and the illogical-but-still-quite-valid UNTHAWS.

2nd Bryan Benwitz didn't quite reach the levels of over-the-board dominance that he displayed the previous week, but still acquitted himself well with a 3-1 +380 record and a club-leading 463 per-game average. He got his loss out of the way early when he was defeated by Thomas Reinke 375-455, but Bryan easily bounced back by taking the win off John Bialek, 437-293. The pattern of escalating scores continued when he handily defeated charles Reinke by a score of 451 to 364, playing SYRETTE and OVERING in his winning effort. But the real fireworks were lit in the final game when Bryan scored an astronomical 589 against Richard Lauder, who had a respectable but not-nearly-enough total of 360 points. Bryan might need a bingo-related nickname after that game ("Bryan Bingowitz" was considered and discarded), as Bryan had five such plays: BETAINE, CLEAVING, SPAVIET, DUNKERS, and DETAINED.

3rd Sara McLaughlin put on a strong showing with a 3-1 record, although her -17 spread total left her far behind Bryan in the quest for second place. She played her first-ever nine-letter bingo at our club when she deployed RENAILING in a convincing 431-320 win over Richard Lauder. SAVIORS was her other bingo in that one, while Richard had ROOTLIKE. Sara got down another two bingos, FOISTED and ENROLLED, while defeating newcomer Ron Malzer 398-351. Ron, a resent transplant from La Crosse, proved to be no slouch as he found BINDERS and SMARTER in that one. Sadly, Sara's tragic 302-508 loss to Charles Reinke doomed her dreams of an undefeated club session.