Lakewood Croquet Club

SEATTLE, WA – Mr. Brian S. Johnston III continued to build momentum heading into the 2008 season finale, Champions Cup XIII, notching his third win of the year at Poison V, Saturday, August 16th at Mount Baker Park in Seattle. The victory was not an easy one, as he had to battle his way past two members of the rival Ironman Croquet (IMC) organization, both of whom had already qualified as “poison”.

The heated Lakewood Croquet Club (LCC) vs IMC showdown proved to be the most competitive of the three annual matchups, as the final turns came down to the IMC’s Nathan “Super-Stitious” Cole and King Mike Cough going toe to toe with the LCC’s Johnston and “The Franchise” Jeff Gepner (all four competitors were “poison”). Gepner stacked the odds against Johnston, his club-mate and former longtime rival, by accidentally eliminating himself, striking a wicket on a long distance shot.

Gepner’s screw-up was the second self-elimination by an LCC competitor. “King of Qualifying” Tom Carmony, who finished the course first and qualified as the first “poison” player, accidentally cleared a wicket from a distance of 75 feet (after missing an IMC player’s ball) and struck the inside edge of that wicket to disqualify himself. He was the third elimination of the “poison” round.

The LCC hosts were outnumbered from the start, six to four, by the competitors from Oregon (one competitor from the University of Washington’s Honors Croquet League also took part), who made the trek up I-5 for the weekend. Johnston and Carmony jumped out to an early lead, with IMC’s Cole and Brandon Lasher in close pursuit. Carmony began to pull away, along with Gepner, who rebounded from a horrendous start to take a second-half lead.

Carmony was the first to stake out and reach Poison, with Gepner close behind. The two apparently reached an unofficial truce, however, as they clearly expressed no inclination to eliminate one another, instead focusing on targeting IMC competitors.

“I’m not going to say whether there was any agreement, so to speak,” said Gepner in a post-event interview with the press. “I will say, however, that we certainly had the best interests of the LCC in mind, and we wanted to make sure that the title stayed with the club, in the state of Washington.”

Carmony was less vague.

“Oh yeah, we had a pinky promise,” stated the King of Qualifying. “Jeff may not want to admit it, but it was his idea. I said, ‘do we REALLY need to hook pinkies to agree to this?’ but he insisted. It seemed a bit strange to me.”

Poison V marked the third consecutive year that the IMC made the trip north to challenge the LCC on their home turf. LCC officials have vowed to finally return the favor and are making tentative plans to journey to Oregon next season for a showdown on IMC turf.

“While good hosts, these LCC guys are clearly scared to come down to face us on our home turf,” reiterated IMC head Brandon Lasher at the post-match press conference. “We’re throwing down the gauntlet for 2009 – we’ll see if they step up to the challenge.”

Poison V Final Standings:

1. Mr. Brian S. Johnston III (LCC) *
2. Nathan “Super-Stitious” Cole (IMC) *
3. “King” Mike Cough (IMC) *
4. “The Franchise” Jeff Gepner (LCC) *
5. “King of Qualifying” Tom Carmony (LCC) *
6. Brandon “Croquet Cool” Lasher (IMC)
7. Cassee “Big Cheater” Hansen (IMC)
8. Timeri Hansen (IMC)
9. Ben “No Nickname” Lasher (IMC)
10. Nikki Gepner (LCC)
11. Ezra Bradford (UWHCL)

* = Players who completed the course and reached poison status.

View Photos from Poison V on Flickr »

Event Notes: Defending Poison Champion, “Mr. Fantastic” Kevin Sutton, was unable to defend his title at this year’s event due to a family commitment. He made a brief pre-match appearance to drop off the championship belt and vowed to be in top form for the final match of the season, Champions Cup XIII in September. LCC regulars Dianne Learned, Kristina Johnston and Jenn Sutton were also unable to make the event, due to other commitments. All are expected to be on hand for next month’s Cup.