CROQUET NEWS:  United States Croquet Association Eights Won by Jeff Soo

	Place	Player, State [NA Ranking]
	1st	Jeff Soo, NC [#12]
	2nd	Brian Cumming, ON [#11]
	3rd	Jerry Stark, CA [#1]
		Leo McBride, ON [#2]
		Rich Lamm, CO [#8]
		Stewart Jackson, FL [#9]
	7th	Damon Bidencope, NC [#6]
	8th	Bob Cherry, NC [#10]
	1st	David Bent, FL [#20]
	2nd	Ron Lloyd, MO [#25]
	3rd	Andy Short, NC [#16]
		Jim Butts, CA [#24]
	5th	Doug Grimsley, VA [#13]
	6th	Peter Just, FL [#21]
	7th	John Osborn, FL [#14]
	8th	Rory Kelley, AZ [#17]
	1st	Mik Mehas, CA [#26]
	2nd	Johnny Mitchell, TX [#35]
	3rd	Paul Emmett, ON [#37]
		Martyn Selman, CA [#41]
	5th	Louis Nel, ON [#30]
		Leo Nikora, HI [#34]
	7th	Jim Bast, TX [#29]
	8th	Jim Nicklasson, ON [#40]
	1st	Joe King, TX []
	2nd	Keith Jones, FL [#48]
	3rd	Russell Brown, NY [#50]
	4th	Eileen Soo, NC [#44]
	5th	Mike Gibbons, NY [#63]
	6th	Ken Shipley, ON [#52]
	7th	Anne Coco, TX [#58]
		Josie Jackson, FL []

26-29 October 2006
National Croquet Center, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
by Leo Nikora in Maui Croquet Club News of 2006, Kihei, Hawaii, USA

Jeff Soo of North Carolina wins the United States Croquet Association Eights.

The United States Croquet Association selected the top thirty two players in North America, and divided them into four sets of eight based on their strength of play.

The First Eight was won by Jeff Soo of North Carolina. This Eight included five of the six members of this year's United States MacRobinson Shield team, including Jerry Stark, Rich Lamm, Damon Bidencope, and Bob Cherry.

The Second Eight was won by David Bent of Florida.

The Third Eight was won by Mik Mehas of California.

The Fourth Eight was won by Joe King of Texas.

In the 56 games played in each Eight, there were 31 triple peels in the First Eight, 15 in the Second Eight, 1 in the Third Eight, and 1 in the Fourth Eight.

The format was a double round robin, each game played to the peg; except for the Fourth Eight, which had a two-hour time limit on each game. Advanced International Rules were followed. Sunshiny balls were used; except in the First Eight, which used Dawson balls in preparation for the MacRobinson Shield. The tournament was directed by Jerry Stark.

Play was double banked on eight of the twelve courts at the National Croquet Center, so all thirty two players could be playing at the same time. There were a few delayed games due to long games, and a few pegged down games; but most players played ten hours of croquet every day. Oddly, the First Eight took the longest to complete all their games, finishing the last game in the afternoon of the fourth day.

Except for one morning of rain, the weather was good in West Palm Beach. It was never too hot or too cold, and clouds often provided welcome relief from the sun. All courts had shaded seating, and cold-water drinking fountains.

An English style event, the USCA Eights included no social events, but players usually joined each other after play for drinks and dinner at one of the many local restaurants. The spacious veranda at the National Croquet Center was also a popular spot for players to watch the play of the First Eight.

All players enjoyed the tournament, and wish the United States MacRobinson Shield team the best of luck next month in Australia.

Pictures are posted in the Maui Croquet Club Gallery.

First Eight	Stark	McBride	Bidencope	Lamm	Jackson	Cherry	Cumming	Soo
Jerry Stark, CA [#1]	3rd 7 wins	+10tp	+15 +25tp	+25	+25tp	+17tp		+17tp
Leo McBride, ON [#2]	+16	3rd 7 wins	+17tp +26tp		+9	+16tp	+7otp	+17
Damon Bidencope, NC [#6]			7th 6 wins	+21	+25tp	+14 +2	+8	+17tp
Rich Lamm, CO [#8]	+26tp	+9 +4otp	+26tp	3rd 7 wins	+15 +21		+25
Stewart Jackson, FL [#9]	+26tp	+17	+26tp		3rd 7 wins	+17tp +5	+1	+14tp
Bob Cherry, NC [#10]	+26tp	+26tp		+24tp +17		8th 5 wins	+8
Brian Cumming, ON [#11]	+13tp +26tp	+26tp	+9tp	+17	+11	+7	2nd 8 wins	+17tp
Jeff Soo, NC [#12]	+17tp	+26tp	+16	+23tp +7	+25tp	+26 +26tp	+25	1st 9 wins

Second Eight	Grimsley	Osborn	Short	Kelley	Bent	Just	Butts	Lloyd
Doug Grimsley, VA [#13]	5th 7 wins	+15 +1	+25tp	+26tp +6		+26tp	+21
John Osborn, FL [#14]		7th 4 wins		+26	+12 +4	+16
Andy Short, NC [#16]]	+22	+17tp +6	3rd 8 wins	+26tp +2		+17tp +9tp	+16
Rory Kelley, AZ [#17]]		+2		8th 2 wins		+13
David Bent, FL [#20]]	+17tp +6		+26 +17	+6 +1	1st 11 wins	+7	+17tp +26	+12tp +17
Peter Just, FL [#21]]	+19	+11		+6	+17	6th 6 wins	+17	+17
Jim Butts, CA [#24]]	+26tp	+26 +15	+10	+12 +11		+16	3rd 8 wins	+3
Ron Lloyd, MO [#25]]	+8tp +2tp	+5 +10	+23 +26tp	+9 +14		+24tp	+4	2nd 10 wins

Third Eight	Mehas	Bast	Nel	Nikora	Mitchell	Emmett	Nicklasson	Selman
Mik Mehas, CA [#26]	1st 10 wins	+25 +18	+11 +7	+16tp		+22	+10 +16	+16 +23
Jim Bast, TX [#29]		7th 5 wins		+23	+11	+13	+15 +15
Louis Nel, ON [#30]		+12 +7	5th 7 wins	+4	+26 +8	+6		+3
Leo Nikora, HI [#34]	+3	+26	+4	5th 7 wins		+10	+3 +21	+6
Johnny Mitchell, TX [#35]	+14 +26	+20		+3 +18	2nd 9 wins		+10 +12	+24 +6
Paul Emmett, ON [#37]	+9	+24	+25	+13	+21 +8	3rd 8 wins	+11 +16
Jim Nicklasson, ON [#40]			+17 +16				8th 2 wins
Martyn Selman, CA [#41]		+14	+26	+14		+13 +5	+10 +11	3rd 8 wins

Fourth Eight	Soo	Jones	Brown	Shipley	Coco	Gibbons	Jackson	King
Eileen Soo, NC [#44]	4th 9 wins		+9	+10 +7	+3 +22	+24	+5 +7	+1
Keith Jones, FL [#48]	+3 +12	2nd 11 wins	+22	+1 +1	+18 +1	+13 +13	+8 +13
Russell Brown, NY [#50]	+12	+1	3rd 10 wins	+4 +6	+14 +19	+2 +1	+5 +21
Ken Shipley, ON [#52]				6th 3 wins	+7	+1	+1
Anne Coco, TX [#58]				+6	7th 2 wins		+1
Mike Gibbons, NY [#63]	+1			+3	+17 +16	5th 6 wins	+3 +6
Josie Jackson, FL [unranked]				+2	+2		7th 2 wins
Joe King, TX [unranked]	+1	+3 +6	+4 +14	+13 +25tp	+16 +1	+21 +2	+24 +11	1st 13 wins