1st Thomas Reinke topped a healthy assortment of thirteen players with his flawless 5-0 +293 record. He began with a 460-392 win over Mark Kenas, playing ATONIES, BOTTINE#, and LATTINS to Mark's SCRIPTER and CERRIAL#. He then faced off against newcomer (but seasoned tournament player) Kristy Zurbrick and won in a high-scoring affair, 472-447. Thomas' sole bingo was COMETARY, while Kristy got down three of her own: HERNIATE, CESTOID, and HOISTED. Thomas didn't get any time to breathe as he was immediately tossed into a two-on-one against fearsome Collins competitors Charles Reinke and Mark Kenas; this proved to be no problem as Thomas won both, 423-395 against Charles and an eye-popping 525-515 game against Mark. That latter game saw Mark go wild with his Collins knowledge, deploying BEDTIMES, HUANACOS#, ANTLIAE#, and STODGER#, while Thomas contributed to the 1000-point effort with GROOMERS, SODDIER#, and UILLEANN#. Thomas wrapped things up with a convincing win over Lynda Finn, 457-295.

2nd Charles Reinke had a strong night at 4-1 +427, but a third-straight loss to Thomas Reinke demoted him to second place in the weekly standings. Round one had Charles playing two players at once, and as the dust settled from the three-way fracas, Charles emerged victorious in both games, defeating Bryan Benwitz 431-373 and Karl Armstrong 464-339. Among Charles' bingos was a nine-letter LORICATES played against Karl. Charles piled on three more bingos (SUNTANS, RIGORIST, ALLUSION) in a 479-371 win against Mark Kenas, who got down the useful CSW-only bingo AEGIRITE#. After a minor hiccup in round three which consisted of a 395-423 loss to his brother, Charles turned around and notched an even 500 points in the rematch against Mark, who scored 336. Charles' frenzy of bingos featured FILCHED, TUNEUPS, SAGUARO, and GALENITE.

3rd Bryan Benwitz rounded out the top three with a 3-1 +93 record. Despite bingos of REFUTERS and DIPLOMAT, Bryan was felled in the very first game by Charles Reinke, 373-431; Bryan promptly redirected his fury onto the unsuspecting Richard Lauder, resulting in three bingos (FLEECING, IONIUMS, DAINTIER) and a 439-389 win. Bryan's usually high-flying scoring style was partially stymied when he went up against Kristy Zurbrick, but he managed to prevail regardless, 376-348. Kristy found ARSENAL in that one, while Bryan had the nice FOVEOLES. Bryan's final act was a 422-349 win against Sara McLaughlin, where Sara's not-self-descriptive play of ASININE for 98 just wasn't enough to swing the game in her favor.

We enjoyed Milio's subs and shared fond memories of Sue Goldstein. Thanks to Lynda for helping organize the food and for bringing an abundance of cookies. All that was missing was Sue's customary mini-bottle of diet caffeine-free coke.

We welcomed the vacationing Kristy Zurbrick to our club as well. Her years of tournament experience resulted in a much stronger performance than the average newcomer (2-2 with a 416 per-game average and nine bingos!). Alas, this was probably a one-time appearance as her native Ohio beckons her back. But all Wisconsinites are encouraged to visit her Columbus, Ohio club if ever in the area. Her fantastic find of CHEFDOMS was word of the week.