1st John Bialek enjoyed his first-ever (but hopefully not last-ever) perfect evening, going 4-0 +195. He crested the 400-point barrier with a strong 412-344 win over Ed Nawrocki in round one, fending off Ed's AMIDONES with his own DELUGES and the ever-popular STAINER (played more often than any of the many words in AEINRST, although NASTIER is close). Changing tactics in round two, John got no bingos against Carol Ormand (who got SCABIES), but still won comfortably, 382-308. John's highlight win came in the next game, as he downed the menacing Charles Reinke by just ten points, 370-360. LEAVING was John's bingo in that one, while Charles had ACCEPTEE. In the fourth and final game, John got EXALTING for a 358-315 win against Helen Flores. Given John's strong performance, there's gotta be a way to weave the word EXALTING neatly into this narrative, but I'm not coming up with it.

2nd the rarely-seen Beth Amos emerged from her veil of secrecy to play three games of Scrabble, and won them all with a 3-0 +99 record. Her first-round match against Lynda Finn ended with a final of 434-341; of note was Beth's nine-letter RESERVOIR, a play so fantastic that it should entitle one to an automatic win (this rule change request has been mailed to Hasbro headquarters). Beth's next two games were won by three points apiece, which seems unnecessarily stressful. She beat Ed Nawrocki 340-337 with a bingo of ANKLETS, then beat Dave Kinzer 374-371, bingoing with MOISTEN and DILUTER.

3rd Thomas Reinke finished 3-1 +274, beating out Richard Lauder, who was also 3-1 with less spread. Thomas' night didn't exactly start according to plan (assuming the plan is to win every game of Scrabble you play), as he lost in round one, 456-471 to Charles Reinke. Thomas had the high-probability LOCATER and IGNEOUS; Charles had HOSTELER, FAILURE, and ANECDOTA. Things improved noticeably after that point, starting with a 474-331 victory over Lynda Finn, aided by POCOSIN (also spelled POCOSEN and POCOSON) and NAVETTE. Against James Rollins, Thomas flexed his word knowledge with the strange-looking ZOOGLOEA (the alternate spelling ZOOGLEA looks only slightly more plausible) to get a 453-369 win. Thomas finished his comeback by taking a rematch win against Charles, 412-350, bingoing with KOTOWING and EMMESHED#.