CASPER – Around 20 individuals and six teams from the Goshen County Pool League competed in the State Eight-Ball Tournament in Casper on March 13-19 and several brought home some hardware.
The week started with singles action, including an open and women’s division. The tournament had over 100 tables set up and had more than 1,500 people competing from across the state.
In singles action, Sharon Hubbard had the best finish, taking second in the Class B women’s division. She worked her way through a field of 34 contestants to take home the runner-up plaque.
“I got second place and I feel like a champion because I played my best pool in there,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard said that she felt she could not have had the performance she did without her boyfriend, Ken Lewis and her teammate, Kat Schurch.
“Kat was a huge help. She made it so much easier for me because she helped keep me focused,” Hubbard said. “Ken really helped me get relaxed and ready to go for each match.”
Hubbard, a native to Colorado, has been working on her pool game for most of her life. She has worked in several pool halls across the country and has worked on perfecting her game.
She moved to Florida and began competing in the women’s tiger tour, which was a regional tour that allowed players to rack up points to become an exempt pro. As an exempt pro, a player can play in a televised tour event. Hubbard earned her way into a professional event – the Ultimate 10-Ball Championship – in Frisco, Texas in 2012.
“It was a wonderful experience and I realized I’m truly working toward being in that environment,” Hubbard said. “Once you get bit by the bug, you can’t stop it.”
Hubbard, who moved to Torrington a little more than a year ago, has been playing in the Goshen County Pool League since she came to town. She said her ultimate goal is to reach the pro tour.
“It’s the more balls that you can hit, the better you get,” Hubbard, who spent 40 hours a week practicing for the state tournament, said. “A lot of people play two or three games and think that’s practice. That’s not practice to me. I want to hit a million balls.”
Brett Ruiz picked up a third-place finish at the state tournament out of 83 competitors. He was a contender in the Open A division.
Leo Galvan, a AA player who is a native to Torrington, picked up a top-10 finish in Casper. Out of 58 players, Galvan took ninth place. He has been a AA competitor, which is the second-highest class, for two years after taking sixth in the state tournament in A in 2015.
“I shot pretty good,” Galvan said of his game in Casper. “There are a lot of good players up there. It’s a good tournament, it really is. I’m very happy about that.”
Galvan, who is sponsored by Gary Pittman of Pittman Electric, went to four tournaments this year, including the trip to Casper in March. In 2005, Galvan went to compete in Las Vegas in an international tournament and his team placed.
Steve Lind, a member of the local pool league, took his talents to Casper and competed in the Open B class as an individual. There were 186 competitors in his class, and Lind finished 24th. Lind, who plays 50-80 games of pool a week, captured seventh place at the state tournament in 2014.
“The first couple of matches, I started off slow but then I got going well,” Lind said of his time at the 2017 state tournament. “I just keep wanting to get better and better. I want to win.”
At the state tournament, Galvan was on a team with Bill Watson, Merl McGlaughlin, Jerry Schimic, Bob Kerr and Ruiz that finished ninth in the A/AA/AAA division.
The most successful team from the area took silver in the Open B division. Russ Hamer, Shad Shimic, Lonnie Britton and Brad Bringleson battled their way through 61 other teams in the field. On both Friday and Sunday, the foursome played three matches and they added another four matches on Saturday.
Bringleson, Schimic and Britton all noted that the local pool league, which has 15 teams this year compared to the 10-12 in recent history, has boosted their game, especially with the additional teams this year.
“It makes everyone better and want to represent us elsewhere,” Bringleson said.
“The league is growing,” Schimic said. “To have 15 teams is great. It adds a lot of good competition.”
Rocky Mountain Tournament
A group of give local pool players picked up a first-place finish in Longmont, Colo. on Feb. 17-19. The team of Fred Mortensen, Tom Watson, Steve Lind, Tom Brown and Kirk Bernhardt took the title in the C division in February. The team did not lose a single round in Colorado on their way to the top of the podium.
“Pool is 40 percent luck and 50 percent attitude so you have to have your mind in the right place to shoot well,” Mortensen said. “We just happened to all hit well at the same time.”
