Many thanks to Minnesota's Brian Weikle, Director in Charge and Manager, Bridge Operations for excellence in reporting our most recent competition for Grand National Teams in District 14!
Congratulations to those who won the opportunity to compete!
Best wishes to the winning teams as they battle in the National Finals on July 14!
District 14 crowned its 2019-2021 Grand National Teams champions this weekend. A total of thirty teams across four flights entered the competition back in May, with each flight coming down to a four-team Knockout final.
In the Championship flight, the mostly-Minnesotan team captained by Mike Flader (Steve Gaynor, Rich Newell, Barry Purrington) defeated the Twin Cities based squad led by Tony Ames (Judy Nassar, Keith Connolly, Vern Swing) in a closely-fought final match. The Ames team led by 9 IMPs at the half, but a strong third quarter put Flader’s team ahead for good. They held on to win by 22 IMPs in a match that featured strong play at both tables. Records are somewhat incomplete, but I believe only Barry Purrington has previously represented the District at the National level.
In Flight A (0-6000 MPs), the team led by Eric Hendrickson (Paul Gutterman, Richard Lawson, Andy Caranicas, Mark Krusemeyer, Robert Schachter) dominated a group led by Bill Voedisch (Dennis Cerkvenik, Jonathan Cohn, Andrew Clements) by over 100 IMPs. The core of the winning team (Hendrickson/Gutterman and Lawson/Caranicas) have owned this event in recent years, winning in 2013, 2015, 2016 and (also including Krusemeyer/Schachter) 2019. Before graduating to Flight A, at least one member of this team was on the winning Flight B squad every year but one between 2003 and 2011, including a National title in 2010.
In Flight B (0-2500 MPs), the top two teams both qualified for Nationals. The Iowa-based winners were led by Steph Baumann (Dan Walker, James Graves, David Johnson) and defeated Diane Henson’s team (Larry Henson, Mark Lasoff, David Trevor). The Hensons previously represented the District in Flight C in 2007 and 2008.
Finally, Flight C (non-Life Masters under 500 MPs) was won by a St. Cloud area team led by Sue Knauss (Robert Nairn, Dale Larson, Beverly Berg). They held on to edge a Twin Cities squad led by Thomas Botten (Arne Langsetmo, Marc Ashton, Rolf Hubmayr) by 7 IMPs.
Congratulations to all of the winners! The National Final begins on July 14; it will be played online as part of the NAOBC.
Thanks to all of the players who competed this year. Thanks also to our new District GNT Coordinator Jade Barrett, and to the folks at Bridgebase for providing us with a place to play. (Next year, I hope to see you all back at the table!) Thanks especially to Tournament Director Kimberley Hayward, who ran the preliminary rounds in all four flights as well as assisting with the knockout finals.
Brian Weikle, Director-in-Charge
Brian Weikle
Manager, Bridge Operations
ACBL Field Operations