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The 2002 World Horseshoe Pitching championships are in the books. Sylvianne Moisan of Quebec won her 3rd consecutive Women's championship by winning all 15 games with an average of 86.0%. She was very impressive in her win as on the last day of competition she averaged over 89% against the top players. Not to be outdone by the women, Brian Simmons needed to win his last 2 games to clinch the Men's title and pitched back to back 93% games. One was against me and the other was against defending champion, Alan Francis. In all of the years of pitching I have never seen anyone pitch games like that with the title on the line. It is hard to compare this to bowling, because lane conditions are such an influence on scores in bowling, but it would be kind of like averaging 260 for about 16 games when the next highest average was about 230 or 240 with one match being 6 games long and the other being 10 games long. Brian ended up averaging 85.3% with one lone loss in the 15 games. I started out my first 2 games on the last day still pitching on the uncomfortable side. Fortunately for me both of my opponents struggled and I won both games easily. My 3rd game of the day, 13 for the tournament, was against Alan Francis. He started slow and I started ok as I had done on several other games and then I started to have trouble as I have done on most of my games while he had 21 out of 22 to take a small lead in the game. I started to do something that felt halfway comfortable and started throw ringers at about the same time as Alan, but not quite at that pace. I finished the game going 2 doubles in a row, single until the finish of the game. Alan had a poor finish and I was able to beat him 42-31. Alan had his worst game of the day against me while I had one of my better games in the tournament. I was now up against Brian Simmons and if I could beat him, I would be in a 2 or 3 way tie for first place. I started out slow and Brian started out throwing lots of ringers. I had one nice stretch in the middle of the game where I had 25 ringers out of 28 shoes, but Brian had 26 out of 28 at the same time. Unfortunately for me I didn't keep that pace up and that was kind of a mediocre stretch for Brian as he only missed 4 times out of the 62 shoes it took to beat me. I was now out of the running for the championship, but I was still trying to finish in 3rd place. I played against Jim Walters in the last game and he struggled at the start of the game with quite a few shoes bouncing off of the stake. I had a 30-8 lead when Jim decided to get tough and threw 24 ringers in a row and a stretch of 36 of 38 to get the score as close as 31-26. However I hung in there and threw 14 ringers in a row at the end of the game to win 40-26. This is the first time in quite a while, at least 8 years, when I felt like I had a clue as what to do in the world tournament. I kind of wish we were starting over. I don't know if I could beat Brian Simmons if he is on his game, but I feel like I might be able to pitch some games more like I am capable of. I guess I will have to wait until next year to see if I can. If you are interested in checking out all of the results of the tournament, go to www.horseshoepitching.com. There are lots of stats and even some video of the pitching. MENS DIVISION - CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS 2002 WORLD
Player Wins Loss Rngrs SP R%
1.Brian Simmons RI 14 1 761 892 85.31
2.Alan Francis OH 12 3 811 994 81.59
3.Walter Ray Williams Jr FL 12 3 706 920 76.74
4.Paul LaCrosse CO 11 4 738 970 76.08
5.Jim Walters OH 10 5 727 966 75.26
6.Colin Finnie SK 10 5 616 886 69.53
7.Kurt Von Kleist PA 9 6 708 948 74.68
8.Stanley Leis ON 8 7 573 818 70.05
9.Robert G Hayes NY 7 8 564 832 67.79
10.Tom Gallina ON 6 9 680 950 71.58
11.Tom Westbrook SC 6 9 656 926 70.84
12.Ricky L Hall VA 5 10 526 804 65.42
13.Mark Seibold IN 4 11 528 818 64.55
14.Jerry LaBrosse MN 3 12 472 772 61.14
15.Rich Pintor CO 2 13 563 872 64.56
16.Andre Leclerc PQ 1 14 372 676 55.03
MENS DIVISION - CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS 2002 WORLD
1.Brian Simmons-RI 2.Alan Francis-OH
OPPONENT SCORE R SP % OPPONENT SCORE R SP %
1.Andre Leclerc- 42/ 0 29 32 90.6 1.Jerry LaBrosse 42/ 18 50 58 86.2
2.Jerry LaBrosse 45/ 9 36 40 90.0 2.Mark Seibold-I 42/ 20 36 48 75.0
3.Mark Seibold-I 40/ 15 36 44 81.8 3.Ricky L Hall-V 41/ 18 44 54 81.5
4.Ricky L Hall-V 42/ 7 43 50 86.0 4.Andre Leclerc- 45/ 18 35 50 70.0
5.Tom Gallina-ON 40/ 22 49 58 84.5 5.Robert G Hayes 42/ 19 49 62 79.0
6.Robert G Hayes 42/ 4 27 30 90.0 6.Colin Finnie-S 40/ 18 47 56 83.9
7.Colin Finnie-S 41/ 14 31 40 77.5 7.Tom Westbrook- 42/ 24 55 68 80.9
8.Tom Westbrook- 40/ 7 50 54 92.6 8.Tom Gallina-ON 35/ 40 62 78 79.5
9.Paul LaCrosse- 38/ 40 69 92 75.0 9.Stanley Leis-O 41/ 9 31 38 81.6
10.Rich Pintor-CO 45/ 7 41 46 89.1 10.Kurt Von Kleis 40/ 4 31 34 91.2
11.Stanley Leis-O 40/ 27 51 64 79.7 11.Rich Pintor-CO 41/ 23 52 64 81.3
12.Kurt Von Kleis 41/ 30 73 88 83.0 12.Paul LaCrosse- 41/ 36 103 122 84.4
13.Jim Walters-OH 40/ 25 62 78 79.5 13.Walter Ray Wil 31/ 42 58 76 76.3
14.Walter Ray Wil 43/ 9 58 62 93.5 14.Jim Walters-OH 42/ 25 60 72 83.3
15.Alan Francis-O 42/ 15 106 114 93.0 15.Brian Simmons- 15/ 42 98 114 86.0
W- 14 L- 1 621 761 892 85.3 W- 12 L- 3 580 811 994 81.6
3.Walter Ray Williams Jr-FL 4.Paul LaCrosse-CO
OPPONENT SCORE R SP % OPPONENT SCORE R SP %
1.Mark Seibold-I 40/ 23 59 78 75.6 1.Tom Westbrook- 27/ 41 45 64 70.3
2.Ricky L Hall-V 41/ 3 28 32 87.5 2.Tom Gallina-ON 42/ 29 57 74 77.0
3.Andre Leclerc- 41/ 21 38 52 73.1 3.Robert G Hayes 41/ 21 34 46 73.9
4.Jerry LaBrosse 40/ 5 31 38 81.6 4.Colin Finnie-S 40/ 30 47 66 71.2
5.Colin Finnie-S 33/ 40 47 66 71.2 5.Ricky L Hall-V 40/ 4 35 42 83.3
6.Tom Westbrook- 41/ 34 50 68 73.5 6.Andre Leclerc- 43/ 15 39 48 81.3
7.Tom Gallina-ON 41/ 20 62 74 83.8 7.Jerry LaBrosse 40/ 6 23 26 88.5
8.Robert G Hayes 40/ 27 41 52 78.8 8.Mark Seibold-I 40/ 8 33 42 78.6
9.Rich Pintor-CO 41/ 32 64 84 76.2 9.Brian Simmons- 40/ 38 70 92 76.1
10.Paul LaCrosse- 35/ 40 40 62 64.5 10.Walter Ray Wil 40/ 35 42 62 67.7
11.Kurt Von Kleis 40/ 14 36 48 75.0 11.Jim Walters-OH 35/ 42 58 82 70.7
12.Stanley Leis-O 43/ 24 41 56 73.2 12.Alan Francis-O 36/ 41 100 122 82.0
13.Alan Francis-O 42/ 31 61 76 80.3 13.Kurt Von Kleis 40/ 30 62 78 79.5
14.Brian Simmons- 9/ 43 47 62 75.8 14.Rich Pintor-CO 37/ 41 59 80 73.8
15.Jim Walters-OH 40/ 26 61 72 84.7 15.Stanley Leis-O 40/ 17 34 46 73.9
W- 12 L- 3 567 706 920 76.7 W- 11 L- 4 581 738 970 76.1
My Opp My Opp Game Opponent Score Ringers Shs Ringer % 1.Mark Seibold-Indiana 40/ 23 59 55 78 75.6 70.5 2.Ricky L Hall-Virgini 41/ 3 28 16 32 87.5 50.0 3.Andre Leclerc-Quebec 41/ 21 38 31 52 73.1 59.6 4.Jerry LaBrosse-MN 40/ 5 31 20 38 81.6 52.6 5.Colin Finnie-Saskatc 33/ 40 47 50 66 71.2 75.8 6.Tom Westbrook-S.C. 41/ 34 50 49 68 73.5 72.1 7.Tom Gallina-Ontario 41/ 20 62 54 74 83.8 73.0 8.Robert G Hayes-NY 40/ 27 41 37 52 78.8 71.2 9.Rich Pintor-Colorado 41/ 32 64 59 84 76.2 70.2 10.Paul LaCrosse-Colora 35/ 40 40 42 62 64.5 67.7 11.Kurt Von Kleist-PA 40/ 14 36 28 48 75.0 58.3 12.Stanley Leis-Ontario 43/ 24 41 35 56 73.2 62.5 13.Alan Francis-Ohio 42/ 31 61 58 76 80.3 76.3 14.Brian Simmons-R.I. 9/ 43 47 58 62 75.8 93.5 15.Jim Walters-Ohio 40/ 26 61 56 72 84.7 77.8 W- 12 L- 3 567 706 648 920 76.7 70.4I ended up finishing 3rd place which isn't too bad for the way I have been playing lately. Hopefully I can remember what it was I was doing and stop all of the poor pitching which has been a part of my game over the past many years. I would like to win the world tournament again, but I will need to pitch much better than I have been doing in competition. Walter Ray |