VITAL STATISTICS
Date: Saturday, May 7th, 2005
Location: Gas Works Park, Seattle
Winners: Kevin Sutton & Jeff Gepner
Length of Match: 2 hours, 1 minute
Participating Clubs: Lakewood Croquet Club and University of Washington Honors Croquet League
After more than a decade, the Lakewood Croquet Club (LCC) finally made it to what may soon become hallowed grounds in the sport’s lore; Seattle’s historic Gas Works Park. Gasworks, which offers some of the best terrain and one of the most treacherous hills for croquet in the city, finally hosted its first LCC Major, the 2005 Gary Coleman Memorial Team Challenge. The Challenge, held annually since 1998 to determine the LCC’s Doubles Champions, is the only known extreme croquet doubles event held annually and is clearly regarded as one of the sport’s most significant titles.
As has become Coleman Challenge tradition, the event featured competitors from both the LCC and the University of Washington’s Honors Croquet League, as well as a number of newcomers, including Dan Whited, Amanda Castleman and the duo of Cameron & Dulce.
The action was intense from the start. The team of Brian S. Johnston III and Andy Cooper jumped out an early lead, as the remaining field quickly found themselves in pursuit. It was a given that the steep hills of Gasworks would come into play during the contest, but the first notable incident came at the hands of the paved walkways. Dan Whited, on one of his team’s first turns, found himself the unfortunate victim of gravity, as his errant ball picked up momentum, rolling downhill and around a 90 degree turn before coming to a stop a good 50-60 yards from the current wicket.
As Dan and Amanda fought their way back into the pack, the team of Kevin Sutton and Jeff Gepner, and Tom Carmony (playing solo during the first half of the Challenge, before being joined by Nikki Gepner near the halfway point) caught Johnston and Cooper at the four wicket. The lead continued to be jockeyed between teams for much of the contest, with nearly every pairing moving to the head of the pack at some point during the match.
By the midway point, Sutton and Gepner had recaptured the lead and attempted to distance themselves from the rest of the field. Johnston and Cooper and others gained ground, thanks to a pair of wickets at the second (of three) hill(s). A number of teams made late runs, including newcomers Cameron and Dulce, but Sutton and Gepner’s championship experience and poise proved to be too much, as they held off the late runs and staked out for their second consecutive Coleman Challenge victory.
OTHER NOTABLES
The win was the second consecutive for the team of Sutton and Gepner, the first duo to win back-to-back Coleman Challenges. The victory was Sutton’s second (to go with three Champions Cup wins, five total Majors) and Gepner’s fourth (with three different partners; the four Coleman wins, combined with Jeff’s three Champions Cups, gives him a record seven LCC Majors)… Michelle Bruce and Brandon Martin-Anderson returned as a team to represent the UW Honors Croquet League; this marked the fourth year the fine folks of UW have joined in LCC competition…. Newcomer Dan Whited wowed the assembled competitors with his hand crafted custom mallet… The Lakewood Croquet Club would like to extend their thanks to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Amanda Castleman and Paul Joseph Brown, who joined us to document the event for the P-I.
2005 GARY COLEMAN MEMORIAL TEAM CHALLENGE
1 - Jeff Gepner & Kevin Sutton
2 - Cameron & Dulce
3 - Brian S. Johnston III & Andy Cooper
4 - Tom Carmony & Nikki Gepner
5 - Brandon Martin-Anderson & Michelle Burce
6 - Dan Whited & Amanda Castleman
