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.

MARYSVILLE, WA – The Lakewood Croquet Club’s (LCC) annual single elimination, match-play tournament (where competitors battle in one-on-one matches in a nine-player “bracket”), saw the crowning of its third different winner in three years, as current LCC Singles and Doubles Champion “Mr. Fantastic” Kevin Sutton added to his trophy case, eliminating Nikki Gepner in the finals to capture his first “Champion of Freedom” title.

Sutton also notched victories over Kristina Johnston and the other half of the Gepner tandem, “The Franchise” en route to the final round.

The opening round proved to be the most eventful in the tournament’s short history, as a number of top competitors bowed out early. Last year’s winner, “King of Qualifying” Tom Carmony, was ousted in his opening match by Nikki Gepner. The 2006 winner, Jenn Farrell, saw the same fate, as she was eliminated by Jeff Gepner. Perhaps the biggest upset of the opening matches saw former Champions Cup winner Mr. Brian S. Johnston III downed by his sister-in-law, Angela, in only her second LCC match.

The victory gave Sutton four of the five LCC “Major” championships: The LCC Championship (from winning last September’s Champions Cup XII), the Poison Championship (from August 2007’s Poison IV), the LCC Doubles Championship (from June’s Coleman Challenge) and now the Championship of Freedom from the Independence Invitational.

2008 Independence Invitational Results

Qualifying Round
Nikki Gepner d. Dianne Learned

Opening Round
“Mr. Fantastic” Kevin Sutton d. Kristina Johnston
“The Franchise” Jeff Gepner d. Jenn Farrell
Angela ??? d. Mr. Brian S. Johnston III
Nikki Gepner d. “King of Qualifying” Tom Carmony

Semi-Finals
“Mr. Fantastic” Kevin Sutton d. “The Franchise” Jeff Gepner
Nikki Gepner d. Angela

Championship Final
“Mr. Fantastic” Kevin Sutton d. Nikki Gepner

Click Here to View Photos from the 2008 Independence Invitational »

Johnston and Sutton, who led for an early segment of the two-hour match, found themselves precariously close to defeat at the match’s end. They lost their lead at the mid-way turning stake, as the team of Kristina Johnston and “King of Qualifying” Tom Carmony leaped from third to first with a commanding run of shots, while BSJIII and Sutton found themselves entangled off the course, stuck in a concrete wall.

Carmony and Johnston continued their dominating play throughout the second half of the match, until they ran into difficulty staking out at the surprisingly difficult closing wickets. This allowed BSJIII and Fantastic the opportunity to close the gap, despite interference from Gepner and Farrell, who declared kamikaze late in the match. BSJIII and Fantastic even managed to fight back from a ricocheted shot that left them at the bottom of a hill, more than 100 feet from the closing wickets. Johnston managed to clear them from a shrub and Sutton nailed a stellar uphill shot to jettison them back into the thick of the race.

The action continued back and forth until Sutton made a tough-angle shot to clear the first of the final wickets, them rolled on to stake out and capture the victory.

“Despite what Kristina and Tom might tell you, this one was NEVER in doubt,” claimed Brian S. Johnston III at the post-match press conference. “As soon as Mr. Fantastic and I were drawn as partners in the pre-game draw, we were clearly the favorites. This was destiny, my friend, destiny.”

Johnston and Sutton’s victory also helped both edge out other potential competitors from a guaranteed spot in the finals of this year’s Champions Cup. The winner of each “major” (the Triple Steak Trifecta of Death, the Gary Coleman Memorial Team Challenge, the Independence Invitational and Poison) earns a guaranteed spot in the final round, as does the defending Cup winner. Sutton, the winner of last year’s Cup, is a lock for the finals, and Johnston already qualified by winning the Triple Steak two weeks ago.

“Brian would love for it to be just him and Kevin in the finals of the Champions Cup,” stated “The Franchise” Jeff Gepner. “One on one, his odds of winning the Cup would actually be greatly improved – probably, what? Ten percent now?”

View a slideshow of images from the 2008 Coleman Challenge on Flickr

Final 2008 Coleman Challenge Results

1. “Mr. Fantastic” Kevin Sutton and Brian S. Johnston III
2. Kristina Johnston and “King of Qualifying” Tom Carmony
3. Jenn Farrell and “The Franchise” Jeff Gepner