Millican Smashes the Pro Ceiling

The MCA Pro Division now has a female player listed on the page of title champions. Deborah Millican worked through the long grass of the Lee's Summit T-Bone Tournament held this past Saturday at Howard Park in Lee's Summit to finish with a 25-9 win over Billy Bob Breeden to claim her first Pro title. It's a wonderful moment for the MCA and for croquet in general as the sport has always been marketed as gender and age equal. Scroll through that list of champions and you'll see the MCA is well represented across all demographics.

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Breeden Collects Another KC AC Title

The Kactus Creek AC Invitational sponsored by CroquetNetwork.com was originally scheduled for Tulsa, Oklahoma, but with minimal interest the event shifted gears and switched to the Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Missouri. On relatively short notice, five players chose to join the fray and battle it out April 21-23, 2017. The reward for these brave AC warriors was Friday start in "November-like" conditions, but the event saw improving weather each day.

PHOTO GALLERY | RESULTS

The first two days were a round-robin that eliminated one player to set up a four-player knockout on Sunday. Matt Griffith worked through the block with a 4-0 record to take the top seed in the knockout. There he advanced with a 26-2 semifinal win over Ron Millican, who still needs some convincing on the merits of AC. Billy Bob Breeden took down Dylan Goodwin 24-4 with ease in the other semifinal. That set up what proved to be an interesting final between Griffith and Breeden.

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2016 President's Awards

The Midwest Croquet Association announced the annual President's Awards for the 2016 season at the Annual General Meeting Held in Kansas City, Missouri this past Saturday. The winners are:

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Drama to the End

BELTON, MO -- Finally, two of the MCA Nine Wicket Series races lived up to the hype and played out on the final Saturday of the season at Markey Park in Belton, Missouri on September 17, 2016. The GWM Pro Series race saw Matt Griffith come into the MCA Championship Saturday with a narrow 16-point lead over Greg Clouse. The MCA Gold Series was even closer with Steve Jackson clinging to a five-point lead over Jodi Adams. That set the stage for a dramatic finish to the 2016 season.

PHOTO GALLERY | OFFICIAL SCORESHEETS

At the Pro level, there was an interesting twist in that the playoff bracket favored Clouse as Matt Smith slotted into the top half of the bracket as a five seed with a 9-1 record. That indicated Griffith would likely have to take on Smith in round two, while Clouse was set for a much easier path in the bottom half of the bracket.

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2016 MCA Championship Early Results

Here's a quick look at the main results from yesterdays MCA Championship. Full report with photos will be posted when available.

Pro Points Race -- Matt Griffith took his second straight MCA Pro Nine Wicket Series with 427 points on the year to edge out Greg Clouse at 421.

MCA Pro Shield Championship -- Matt Smith 23, Greg Clouse 8

Gold Points Race -- Jodi Adams started the day from behind but maded up ground to claim the overall Gold Series title with 318 points. Steve Jackson was second on the year with 283 points.

MCA Gold Shield Championship -- Jodi Adams 24, S. Jason Cole 16

Silver Points Race -- Gabe Airrington mathematically claimed the overall Silver Points race once it was determined that the Silver bracket would only field six players. That meant challenger Justin Marciniak couldn't get the three games that would be required to even make a run at Airrington's lead. Due to his football career, Airrington was unable to play in the MCA Championship, but he is still the overall champ with 314 points. Marciniak finished with 272 points.

MCA Silver Shield Championship -- Justin Marciniak 14, Brevin Millican 12 

2016 MCA Pro Championship Bracket

The 2016 MCA Pro Division Championship is scheduled for an 12:00 p.m. start on September 17, 2016 at Markey Park in Belton, Missouri (615 W. Markey Road, Belton, MO 64012). The championship games should be start around 2:30 p.m. Playoff bracket with scheduled times:

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Miller Back on Top

The 2016 MCA Nine-Wicket Series continues to find ways to reach back to the 2013 season. During that historic first season, Paul Miller took both the inaugural MCA Championship tournament and GWM Pro Points Race, but since then had only been able to play in a few MCA events. His return this year netted his first tourney win since 2013 as he took down Billy Bob Breeden 32-18 in Sunday's Kansas City Open Pro Division final at Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Missouri. That little nod to the 2013 season follows the only other tournament winner from that first year, Greg Clouse, also picking up his first MCA win since 2013 at the Missouri Open held earlier in July.

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2016 USCA Nine-Wicket Nationals

Five MCA members made the trip to Denver to play in the 2016 USCA Nine Wicket Nationals held June 17-19, 2016, and hosted by the Denver Croquet Club. Matt Griffith finished as runner-up in Championship flight to champion Paul Bennett. In First Flight, Bill Berg collected the second place prize as he finished as runner-up to Charles Berberich. 

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Midwest GC Regional Ready to Launch

The USCA's Midwest Regionals is ready to roll in Kansas City this weekend with a golf croquet format and several MCA players in the line-up. The event will be played at Kactus Creek Croquet Club and the National Golf Club of Kansas City in the Parkville, Missouri. Thursday will be the practice day with game action running Friday through Sunday.

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Cleveland Rocks

The Cleveland Open certainly rocked the MCA Nine Wicket Series this past weekend as all four of the points' races saw new leaders at the top of the standings after this weekend's action at the Cleveland Croquet Club. The fun started in the Pro Division, as former USCA Nine Wicket National Champion Matt Smith came into the event with the idea of ending Matt Griffith's participated tournament win streak of six. Smith had a couple of MCA events under his belt, but the Cleveland Open is the first one where he planned to participate in the knockout round.

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