Lucas Hybrid 2010 BRITISH COLUMBIA 8Ball Championships

Feb 12, 2010

The Island Rules!
The 5th Annual Lucasi Hybrid 2010 British Columbia 8-Ball Championships, presented by the CCS – Canadian Cue Sport Association, were held February 10-14th at the beautiful Lakeside Resort Hotel & Casino in Penticton BC.
The CCS welcomes Lucasi Hybrid as our official National Cue Sponsor. Not only do they sponsor all of our Championships in Canada, they also sponsor every league that sanctions with the CCS. What could be better; a great sponsor with a great line of cues.
Beautiful site, more entries from more places, fun to play in; this Tourney is a keeper.
Once again, the local organizers, Gord and Sabrina Monteith of the SOPL league, did a fantastic job of looking after everyone. Special thanks to the first rate Tournament Direction provided by Chris Kelly and the very solid ACS certified Referee Crew headed by Jeff Phythian. As always, they make it look easy when it really isn’t.
So who won? The Island did. When it came to Team Play, the Island teams came to play. Congrats to the Teams from the VIPL who enjoyed their best showing ever with Championship wins in 3 of 4 Divisions – the Mens A Advanced, Mens B Open and the Womens A/B.
Another great story was the play of Brad Rautio. Wheelchair bound since a skiing accident when he was 22, Brad finished 3rd in Mens 9Ball Singles, won the Mens 8Ball Singles B Open Qualifying and his team finished 3rd in the Mens Team A Advanced Division. Very inspiring.
A big congratulations to all the Champs in all the Divisions of every Event who also won CCS sponsored Paid Trips and/or Entries to compete in the upcoming Lucasi Hybrid 2010 WESTERN 8Ball Championships April 28th to May 2rd in Calgary AB.
The CCS thanks the Lakeside Resort Hotel for hosting us and all the Sponsors who help make an Event like this possible – Lucasi Hybrid Cues, Lake City Casinos, High Country Promotions, Tips Pro Shop and Shaw Cable.
Here’s the rundown of what happened in each Event:
MENS 8Ball SINGLES
A Advanced

Two great players in the Final - Russ Whittle of Calgary AB (last year’s BC and Westerns Champ) versus Josh Silva from Prince George up North. In the end, it was the straight shooting southpaw Josh who clamed the Title. It seems that there are great players everywhere in BC.
It was local Jack Ramsay from Penticton BC who ended up finishing 3rd. Hobbling from one shot to the next, his new nickname should be ‘step and a half’.
Advancing to the A Advanced Finals by winning the B Open Qualifying was Brad Rautio of New Westminster BC.
B Open
It was newcomer Curtis Fleck of Lethbridge AB over local Gary Reeves of Penticton BC.
Peter Drake of Campbell River BC worked his way up from C Standard Qualifying to capture 3rd place.
Also advancing to the B Open Finals, by winning the C Standard Qualifying, was Sean Haworth of Coquitlam BC.
C Standard
It was Gary Adams of Ladysmith BC over Ryan Kendall of Edmonton AB.
Guy Bottin of Surrey BC finished 3rd.
MENS 9Ball SINGLES
In a brand new Event, everyone played together with the A’s racing to 7, the B’s racing to 5 and the C’s racing to 4. It was a great addition to the Tourney and very fun to watch.
When the dust settled, it was an all C Final with Ryan Watkins of Surrey BC winning out over Al Wingert from Campbell River BC.
Finishing 3rd was Brad Rautio of New Westminster BC.
WOMENS 8Ball SINGLES
A Advanced/B Open
The Finals once again featured two long time rivals.
This time it was Maryann McConnell of Port Alberni BC (3 time BC Champ and last year’s Westerns Champ) who won out over Andrea Wilson of Victoria BC (3 time Westerns Champ and former Canadians Champ).
Rose Kantor of Courtenay BC had a great Tourney and finished 3rd.
MENS/MIXED TEAM
A Advanced
The strongest team ever from the VIPL got the job done. The VI Stickmen from Victoria BC (Captain – Rob Clarke, Larry Wilson, Robert Bell, Stewart Adams and Chris Carroll) were not to be denied and won out over the B.A.D. team from Kamloops BC (Captain – Derek Hals, Alan Regan, Geon Garrett, Larry Popadynetz nad Peter Junga).
What a story the B.A.D. team was. Moving up from B Open Qualifying, they made it al the way to the final 2 – good job!
Finishing a very hard fought 3rd was the Ball Busters from Coquitlam BC (Captain – Brad Rautio, Ken Crane, Warner Lehman and Trevor Ridgewell).
Advancing to the A Advanced Finals by winning the B Open Qualifying was Bottom Left from Penticton BC (Captain Chris McNeil, Bill Howie, Reynold Epp, Stuart Trimble and Rudy Friesen).
B Open
The VIPL rules again. It was the XLR8 team from Victoria BC (Captain – Al Girard, Larry Abernethy, Serge Tremblay, Gary Adams and Cory Pointon) who edged out the very colourful The Worst Team from Penticton BC (Captain – Warren Lee, Jack Ramsay, Del Hiltz, John Rae, Mike Turley and Frank Owen) to take the Title.
The D.V.8 team from up the Valley in Kelowna BC (Captain – Carl Jesson, Cole Kennedy, Ron Ogrodnik, Kevin Breisch, Andrew Knox and Cain Kennedy) finished 3rd.
Advancing to the B Open Finals by winning the C Standard Qualifying was the That’s Close team from Kamloops BC (Captain – Billy Francis, Ryan Arnouse, Fred Camille and Darryl McKay).
C Standard
Capping off a strong showing from all the Penticton area teams was the Ball Breakers team (Captain – Al Thompson, Ron Danis, Len Foisey, Andy Swanson, Mike Williams and Mike Zastre) who won out over The Other Team from Kamloops BC (Captain – Art Michel, John Bowman, Bill Davidson, Larry Lestander and Shawn Harnett).
The Who Knows team from Kelowna BC (Captain – Gord Anten, Ray Deveault, Dennis Nymark, David Stagg and Mike Goode) finished 3rd.
WOMENS TEAM
A Advanced/B Open
It was the VIPL again. In an upset victory, it was the underdog B Open ranked Mid Island Gurls from Victoria BC (Captain – Maryann McConnell, Kristin Prior, Karen Rathlou and Lisa Wright) who won out over the A Advanced ranked Samkat team from Calgary AB (Captain – Mary Rayner, Susan Meyers, Kara Ceschini and Andrea Wilson). Good job; they played really well and fully deserved it.
The local A Advanced ranked team from Penticton, the Cue’s Chicks (Captain – Lois Hiltz, Char Wold, Karen Maier, Bonnie Birch, Laura McNeil and Tina Windrem) finished 3rd.
SCOTCH DOUBLES
A Advanced
This is getting repetitive. It was the reigning BC, Westerns and Canadians Champ team of Larry and Andrea Wilson from Victoria BC. versus Cory Pointon of Parksville BC and Maryann McConnell of Port Alberni BC. Who won? – take a guess; it was Larry and Andrea keeping their streak alive. Amazing actually because the field was very strong. Finishing 3rd was the team of Nick Kruger of Penticton BC and Kara Ceschini of Calgary AB.
B Open
It was all local in the Finals. The team of John Bannon of Penticton BC and Tina Windrem of Vernon BC (close enough) over John Rae and Lois Hiltz both from Penticon BC.
Finishing 3rd was the Island team of Robert White and Janice Leask from Sooke BC.