Connecticut State Croquet Championships

2009 Write–up and Results

by Ben Morehead and Ted Prentis

The Greenwich Croquet Club hosted 33 players on June 25^th and 26^th for the 2009 Connecticut State Championships. The 125’x125’ bentgrass lawn at Bruce Park was subdivided into two 60’x105’ courts for Championship flight, while First and Second Flight were played on two half–size courts at the Bayberry Mallet Club. The opening party on Friday night was hosted by Marjorie and Bill Campbell at Bayberry, and featured butterflied lamb, fresh corn on the cob cooked in the husk, and yummy chocolate–covered vanilla ice cream bars. The weather was perfect: 70° for the opening party, and mid–80’s for the doubles on Saturday and the singles on Sunday.

Doubles:

Merged Flight

First and Second Flights were merged for doubles. Ten teams divided into two blocks, Emanations and Penumbra, and met at Bayberry for a full day of high–low doubles. Each team played the other four teams in its block. The block winners played each other for first and second place, while the block runners–up faced off for third and fourth. Double–banked doubles is always a challenge, but on half–sized courts, there are 16 players on a single full–size lawn, a recipe for chaos. Not to worry. Teddy Prentis graciously agreed at the last moment to impose order on the chaos at Bayberry. Matches were originally scheduled for 75 minutes, but after the first round, Teddy shortened the games to an hour to keep the schedule intact and alleviate fatigue. Doubles was handicapped with bisques using current USCA singles handicaps.

Penumbra

In general, each team had a lower handicap player and a higher handicap player. But one team, Tom Duffy and Ian Sidey, consisted of two relatively new but talented players, both with 16 handicaps. Due to their superior shooting, no one was surprised when they won. Their first match of the day, against Chris Glowacki and Julia Wallace, found them with six bisques to use, but even with that, Tom and Ian scored only a one–point victory. Chris Glowacki was the strongest of the Penumbra players, followed closely by Gerry Dolezar. Actually, Gerry made a lengthy four–ball break to the peg and pegged out but, alas, lost by one point when he failed to calculate the score correctly. DOH! Note to self: don’t peg out prematurely.

Gerry made several long breaks through the day to help his partner Barbara Olsen and himself to two wins. Tom and Ian were undefeated after three games, so the court supervisor made a battlefield promotion and lowered the team’s handicap to 13. They still won their fourth match, and went to the finals undefeated. Chris Glowacki and Julia Wallace won three of four and qualified for the third place game.

Emanations

In Emanations, the competition was much closer. Arthur Clarke and last–minute fill–in Barbara Hagan won three of four games, as did Nancy Reynolds and newcomer Dawn Spradlin. Net points from a strong first–round win sent Nancy and Dawn the finals, with Arthur and Barbara playing for third place.

Playoffs

In the final, Nancy and Dawn got off to a good start and the guys, Tom and Ian, were narrowly missing long roquets they had been making all day. Eventually, their shot making recovered and they took a lead which easily could have evaporated in Nancy’s last turn. Despite a noble effort from Nancy and Dawn, Ian and Tom prevailed 15–13, confirming the conventional wisdom that two even players with good shooting will usually prevail over a high–low pair. The match for third place was very close. Surprisingly, Chris Glowacki and Julia Wallace held back from making any long runs and, at the end, the game was tied. But Arthur and Barbara, having won three of their four block matches by a single point, held to form and eked out their third place finish by single point. At the end of the match, Arthur smiled and said, “Another one pointer!”

Championship Flight

Championship flight featured 90–minute games, with five teams in a single block and no playoff. The team of Ben Morehead and Barbara Leeming won three of four matches to claim first place. They were defeated by Dr. Ed O’Laughlin and Mary Daly, who came in second.

Singles

Second Flight

There were some new faces in Second Flight singles, including Ian Sidey and Tom Duffy. Ian and Tom are old friends and used to play croquet in Singapore over 30 years ago. They are just now getting back into the game, and we’re thrilled to have them as new members of the Greenwich Croquet Club. Another new face was Ben Schreff, a 20–year–old junior at Cornell, who recently resuscitated the “Order of the Mallet”, a six–wicket student club. Ben now has more than a dozen regular players hitting the lawns in Ithaca.

But it was not the new faces but the familiar one of Suzanne Spangenberg who proved indomitable and took first place in Second Flight.

First Flight

There were two blocks of four players in First Flight singles; the winners of each block played for first, while the runners up played for third.

Bob Theurkauf swept his block of singles with a series of one–point wins, finishing 3–0. Theurkauf, a spry young man of 81, proved youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and treachery. Courtney Green, a twenty–something from Massachusetts, came in second. Gerry Dolezar and Barbara Hagan rounded out the foursome.

In the other block, Chris Glowacki and Chris Fey went 2–1, while Tina Theurkauf and Priscilla Lamond went 1–2. Although Fey beat Glowacki, it was Glowacki who advanced to the final against Theurkauf on the basis of net points. Fey reported characteristic failures of “blocking and tackling” in his block. For example, Fey hit a perfect rush, sending partner to two–back for a peel against Glowacki, but then remembered he needed to go through the other way. Oops. And against Tina, Fey set up a lovely 3–ball break for himself — starting at the wrong wicket. Oy!

Both Chris’s prevailed in the finals, with Glowacki beating Bob Theurkauf for first place, and Fey beating Courtney Green to take third.

Championship Flight

Championship flight had two flights of four players, with the winners of each block playing off for first, and the runners up playing for third. With 90–minute games in singles and doubles, there was plenty of time for dramatic comebacks, of which there were two.

The first occurred in block play, with Ben Morehead (–.5), a 48–year–old IT Architect for IBM, versus Tim Rapuano (1.5), a 36–year–old analyst for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Rapuano, an up–and–coming player from Ramsey, New Jersey, has a fluid “cast once and hit through” swing that is a thing of beauty. His long distance roquets were so reliably deadly that players in Championship flight had taken to calling him “The Machine” and “The Laser.”

Morehead had run his first ball through penultimate early, but was stuck at wicket 2 with the other. Rapuano gained ground throughout the bulk of the match, scoring wickets and keeping Morehead dead. When it came time to play his latter ball in last turn, Morehead was double partner–dead, and trailed 12–18. Morehead resorts to two–balling. He roquets his opponent’s ball on the boundary northwest of wicket 2, and splits them to wicket 2. He runs the hoop, then rushes his opponent’s ball to wicket 3. Focusing hard, he runs wicket 3 without hitting either stanchion, and rolls past his opponent’s ball. Undaunted, he roquets his opponent’s ball and makes a 55–foot split shot to wicket 4. Morehead’s ball lands about 12 feet from the hoop, while his opponent’s ball lands four feet past the midpoint between hoops 4 and 5. Focusing hard again, he makes the wicket without touching either stanchion, and lands three feet from the south boundary where, as luck would have it, his opponent’s other ball lies. Morehead roquets the boundary ball, and runs a three–ball break to three–back, leaving Rapuano with one last 75–foot roquet opportunity from north of one–back to a ball on the court south of two–back. Rapuano makes his only long–distance miss of the day, giving Morehead a narrow and hard–fought 20–18 victory.

The other dramatic comeback occurred in the match pitting the second–place players out of each block, Rapuano and Peter Hull (1.0), against each other for third place. Hull, the five–time and defending state champion, is a lawyer from Simsbury, Connecticut. He had had difficulty making wickets and roquets, a recipe for a long day. With five minutes left, Rapuano led 22–9, with both balls for rover, while Hull was for one–back and wicket 4. Rapuano tries to roquet Hull’s ball through the hoop at 4, and stuffs it, handing Hull a ball at his wicket and two at his next. Hull runs the hoop, and promptly peels the danger ball through rover. He runs a break, and after going through rover, pegs out the danger ball, and sets a perfect leave for partner. He runs the table with his partner ball, and Hull wins third place, 26–24, with 19 hoops (!) in last turn, 17 his own. Wow.

The Finals pitted Morehead against Dr. Ed O’Laughlin (1.5), an anesthesiologist from Hunt Valley, Maryland. O’Laughlin and his wife, Kathy, were visiting their daughter Erinn, a physician doing her medical internship at Greenwich Hospital. Erinn’s husband Brian and their adorable 16–month old son, Grayson, were also in attendance, along with O’Laughlin’s youngest daughter, Sarah, a junior studying economics at Bucknell University. All you need to know about the O’Laughlin clan is that every one of them stayed late on Saturday helping take down the courts at Bruce Park. Sign them up.

Going into the Finals, Morehead was without his usual cheering section, as his wife Katherine had taken his daughters, Katie and Mallory, to compete in a horse show. Morehead was acutely aware that up until that day, he was 5–0 in singles finals with family watching, and 1–3 without.

O’Laughlin and Morehead were in fine form. Both were 3–0 in singles and had beaten their opponents 26–2 in the last block matches immediately prior to the final. And even though Morehead and Barbara Leeming had won doubles the previous day, their only loss came at the hands of O’Laughlin and Mary Daly.

Morehead (Blue/Black) v. O’Laughlin (Red/Yellow):

1. Blue enters the game and shoots to corner IV.
2. Red enters and shoots to the south boundary 20 feet west of Blue (!).
3. Black stuffs wicket 1 and lands in the jaws.
4. Yellow tries to drag jump Black into the game, but knocks Black into the game and Yellow goes past wicket 1.
5. Blue takes a vigorous shot at Red, but hits it on the wrong side, roqueting Red out of bounds; Blue ricochets off Red and ends up on the west boundary adjacent to wicket 1.
6. Red shoots to corner I.
7. Black shoots to the west boundary, giving Blue a line rush to wicket 2.
8. Yellow goes to position at wicket 1.
9. Blue rushes Black to wicket 2, makes the wicket, rushes Black to wicket 3, makes the wicket, but rolls past Black. Blue shoots to corner IV.
10. Red goes on court, five feet north of wicket 1, intending to give yellow a rush to wicket 2, or potentially, a rush to corner IV.
11. Black decides pairing up in corner IV would be a bad idea. He shoots at Red and misses, landing in corner I.
12. Yellow goes through wicket 1, and rushes Red to between peg and wicket 3; he then croquets Red out of bounds four feet north of Black on the west boundary, with Yellow landing 40 feet south of wicket 2.
13. Blue snuggles up to corner IV.
14. Red roquets Black, then croquets Black between 6 and 4, but Red lands 15 feet SSE of Yellow. Red swings at Yellow, but misses, landing on west boundary adjacent to wicket 2.
15. Black shoots out of bounds next to Red.
16. Yellow gives Red an on–court rush to wicket 2.
17. Blue shoots to corner I.
18. Red rushes Yellow to wicket 2 and scores the wicket, but has no useful rush on Yellow. Red decides to guard Black’s shot on Yellow and shoots out of bounds midway on the east boundary.
19. Black shoots at Yellow and just nicks it. Black makes wicket 2, then rushes Yellow to between wickets 3 and 6, takes off to Red on the east boundary, roquets Red, then croquets Red two feet south of Blue’s wicket (4), not quite wired from Yellow. Black then joins Blue in corner I.
20. Yellow shoots at Red and misses, landing on the south boundary near corner IV.
21. Blue roquets Black in corner I, does a pass roll sending Black to wicket 5 and Blue six feet south of wicket 4. Blue rushes Red to wicket 4, makes the wicket, then immediately picks up Yellow and runs the break to the peg. Conscious that Blue is dead on opponents, Morehead makes the following leave:

    • Red: midway between wicket 1 and the south boundary.
    • Yellow: three feet south of wicket 3, wired from Red by the peg.
    • Blue: two feet from the east boundary, 10 feet north of wicket 3, and open on Red.
    • Black: five feet from Blue, wired from Red by wicket 3, giving Blue an on–court rush to 3.

22. Red hits into the leave but misses, landing in corner III.
23. Black rushes Blue to three, scores the wicket, hits Yellow, takes off to Red in corner three, roquets Red, and lines up a croquet shot to send Red to wicket 4 and Blue behind Black for a rush to wicket 3. He under–hits the shot, with Red landing closer to the peg than wicket 5, and Black landing well short of Blue with a rush toward wicket 5. Black rushes Blue to just past wicket 5, and splits them to wicket 4, with Black in perfect position two feet in front, and Blue two feet on the other side. Morehead stuffs the wicket, leaving Black in the jaws.
24. Yellow, near wicket three, shoots at Blue and Black and misses, landing on the south boundary near corner IV.
25. Blue, a rover, roquets Black in the jaws, and Irish peels Black through 4. He realizes that Red is dangerously close, and decides to try to roquet Red even though Red is near the stake. Blue just nicks Red, then croquets it near corner III. Blue then rejoins Black, giving partner an on–court rush to wicket 5.
26. Red shoots to the north boundary in front of his wicket (3).
27. Black rushes Blue to 5, makes the wicket, but is thoroughly wired from Blue, and shoots to corner I.
28. Yellow joins Red on the north boundary in front of wicket 3.
29. Blue would like to give Black a rush northward on the west boundary, but is wired from Black by wicket 1. He decides to cut it close and give Black the best rush he can. He hits the west stanchion of wicket 1, and spins adjacent to the wicket.
30. Red decides to act. He roquets Yellow on the boundary, and splits his balls to wicket 3, with Red about five feet from the wicket. O’Laughlin stuffs wicket 3.
31. Black decides he’ll roquet Blue vigorously from 25 feet away, and hits it center ball, rushing it past the peg. He splits Blue to one–back while trying to land east of Yellow for a rush toward wicket 6. He lands directly south of Yellow, with a rush toward wicket 3. Unfortunately, Red is in the jaws at 3 and cannot be rushed anywhere near wicket six. Morehead realizes Yellow is the closest pioneer he’s got, and decides to split Yellow to 6 from 15 feet away. He does, and runs the wicket.

    After running wicket 6, Black has a rush on Yellow due west toward Blue, and can neither rush nor croquet Yellow to two–back. He roquets it gently and hits a tiny stop shot sending it 15 feet south of one–back. He rushes Blue to one–back, scores the wicket and has a rush on Blue toward the north boundary. Morehead thinks that even if he rushes Blue to near the north boundary, the odds of sending Blue to three–back while getting a good rush on Yellow to two–back are slim. He decides to take off from Blue to Yellow, and rush Yellow to two–back, figuring he’ll either two–ball it to three–back, or do a ball–to–ball break, depending on how far he comes through two–back. After taking off from Blue, Black lands two feet from Yellow, with a straight rush to two–back. Black rushes Yellow to two feet in front of the wicket, and scores the wicket with a decent rush to three–back. Black rushes Yellow to three back, and with Red as a pioneer at four–back, is able to peg out.

Morehead wins his fourth Connecticut State Championship singles title, 26–3. Better yet, he comes home to find that both Katie and Mallory have won Champion in their class at their horse show. A banner day for the Moreheads.

Send inquiries to Ben Morehead at his first name, followed by a period, followed by his last name, at gmail dot com.