MCA 2021 AGM: Two Event Dates Set

The 2021 MCA AGM was held virtually on February 6, 2021, and the meeting mainly centered around bringing back a more active tournament schedule for the upcoming season. Shortly after the meeting, it was confirmed that the ninth annual Kansas Open Nine Wicket Series (9WS) event will be held on the weekend of July 24-25, 2021 at Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Mo. In addition, the board also agreed to bring back the traditional date in September for the MCA Championship. The singles Pro, Gold and Silver Championships for the 9WS would be played on Saturday, September 18, 2021. A venue is still be determined and the event could potentially include a second event played on Sunday.
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Era of Domination Continues

Matt Griffith put an exclamation point on his fourth straight MCA Pro Nine Wicket Series win as he took me down 26-24 in yesterday's final at the 2018 MCA Championship at Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Missouri.

In reality, Griffith had pretty much claimed the 9WS Series by the time the final started as he held a 30-point lead at the start of the game. I did make a go of it with an out-game approach with blue, but it didn't take Griffith long to get in and wrap up the Cup chase by taking yellow through wicket #3.

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AGM Highlights: Jackson is New President

The 2018 Midwest Croquet Association Annual General Meeting held at the eCafe in Overland Park, Kansas, on January 27, 2018, achieved the primay goal of transitioning to a new president. Steve Jackson from Kansas City has taken over the role from Dylan Goodwin who served for five years.

The transition was the central part of the meeting discussion and an interesting twist occurred as a new vice president position was created which Ellie Griffith taking that role. The idea is that adding another member will help with the workload for the president and also ensure of smooth succession in future years.

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Gold Championship: Jackson's Revenge

The 2017 MCA Gold Championship set up similar to the 2016 edition. Steve Jackson entered with a lead in the overall race in both years. While 2016 ended on a sour note, Jackson left no doubt in 2017 as he capped his 15-1 season with a pair of wins to claim his first Gold Series Championship and third straight Gold tournament title. 
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2017 KC Open: Griffith Clinches Pro 9WS

With the dust settling on a big weekend of action at the Kansas City Open held at the Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Missouri, the numbers all add up to a three-peat for Matt Griffith in the MCA Nine Wicket Series as he now leads the overall race by more than the 96 points that will be available at the MCA Championship in September.
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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 Gold Championship Bracket

The 2016 MCA Gold Division Championship is scheduled for a 10:45 a.m. start on September 17, 2016 at Markey Park in Belton, Missouri (615 W. Markey Road, Belton, MO 64012). Josh Reed and S. Jason Cole have the early game at 10:45 a.m. All other games start at 1:15 p.m. 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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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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2016 Cleveland Open Day One Winners

CLEVELAND, MO -- There was a lot of croquet action on day one of the 2016 Cleveland Open outside of Cleveland, Missouri today as the Pro, Gold and Bronze Divisions all competed today. All three divisions saw new winners.

PRO DIVISION: Matt Smith over Greg Clouse 20-10

GOLD DIVISION: Nate Benz over Jodi Adams 30-22

BRONZE DIVISION: Patrick Fagan 2-0, Gwyneth Bowen 1-1, Shari Cullinan 0-2

A full report will be posted at a later date, as we will continue with Silver play tomorrow morning with an 8:30 a.m. start.

2016 Lee's Summit T-Bone Gold Schedule

The Gold Division for the 2016 Lee's Summit Tournament will have two blocks of three players. The top two players from each block will advance to the playoffs. Schedule follows:

A BLOCK

8:30 AM - J. Adams / E. Mondt
9:45 AM - S.J. Cole / E. Mondt
11:00 AM - J. Adams / S.J. Cole

B BLOCK

8:30 AM - N. Oberg / E. Kemp
9:45 AM - S. Jackson / E. Kemp
11:00 AM - N. Oberg / S. Jackson

PLAYOFFS:

SEMIFINALS - 1:00 PM
A1 vs B2, B1 vs A2

FINAL - 2:15 PM

Updated website information on the Lee's Summit T-Bone Tournament will appear here:
midwestcroquet.com/missouri-croquet/tag/lees-summit-t-bone-tournament 

Use #MCA9WS for the most up to date news on social media. 

2016 MCA AGM: USCA Rules for 2016

BELTON, MISSOURI -- The 2016 MCA Annual General Meeting was held at the Belton Wellness Center in Belton, Missouri on January 30, 2016 with a lunch sponsored by MCA partner Goodwin World Media LLC. Several topics were covered but the key story continues to be record-breaking growth in both membership and revenue for the MCA. Since launching the MCA Nine Wicket Series in 2013, the MCA has broken both membership and revenue records each year. For 2016, the MCA brought in $2493 in revenue which is up from $370 in 2012. On the membership side, the MCA had 43 members in 2016 versus nine in 2012.
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2015 MCA Gold Division New Game Times

BELTON,  MO -- The 2015 MCA Championship lost one player in Six Ball and added another for the Gold Division Championship. The new times for the Gold Division follow. The Six Ball times are the same, but the new line-up is posted below:

GOLD DIVISION - 12:40 PM, Saturday, September 19, 2015

12:40 PM -- ROUND ONE
#4 Debbie Breeden vs #5 Ellie Kemp

1:50 PM -- SEMIFINALS
#1 Deborah Millican vs 4/5 Winner
#2 Bill Berg vs #3 Jodi Adams

3:00 PM -- GOLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

SIX-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP - 6:00 PM, Friday, September 18, 2015

Top three finishers from each game advance to the final at approximately 7:25 p.m.

Qualifier 1 -- 6:00 PM
Dylan Goodwin
Deborah Millican
Bill Berg
Josh Reed 
Brevin Millican
Cade Millican

Qualifier 2 -- 6:00 p.m.
Ron Millican
Jason Johnson
Di Berg
Darin Watson
Gwyneth Bowen
Renee Potter

ADDRESS:
Markey Park
615 Markey Rd
Belton, MO 64012

We are still able to take up to six more players for the Six Ball Championship on Friday evening. It is a free event for MCA members and $10 for non-members. Contact kccroquetclub@gmail.com if you would like to participate.

2015 Missouri Open - Gold Schedule

BELTON, MO - Entries for the 2015 Missouri Open Pro and Gold Division topped out at an odd number of 15 players. That scenario forced a split between the Pro and Gold Division. With 10 pro spots available eight spots were given to the eight players that made the pro playoff at the Lee's Summit T-Bone Tournament. Matt Smith and Paul Miller were awarded the final two spots based on 9W ranking. The Gold Division will play a four-game round-robin format at this Saturday's event with games starting at 8:30 a.m. All players will receive one bye during the event. Full schedule:
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Four Races, Four New MCA Leaders

LEAWOOD, KS -- With the addition of the newly formed Bronze (six ball) development division, the Midwest Croquet Association now has four points races to monitor. After his win at the Lee's Summit T-Bone Tournament, it is no surprise to see Matt Griffith at the top of the GWM Pro Points race with 147 points. Runner-up Greg Clouse follows in second with 117 points, while last year's champion Dylan Goodwin sits in third with 96 points.
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2015 MCA AGM: Focus on KC Development

The 2015 Midwest Croquet Association Annual General Meeting was hosted at the home of Ron and Deborah Millican in Lee's Summit, MO on February 7, 2015. The meeting began at 11:00 a.m. with a look at financials and membership. The MCA set records in both revenue ($1815) and members in 2014. The MCA had 32 members in 2014, which was up from the record of 22 in 2013 (2012 had nine members).
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2014 MCA President's Awards

LEE'S SUMMIT, MO -- The MCA announced five winners for the 2014 MCA President's Awards at the beginning of the 2015 AGM Meeting on February 7, 2015:

OFF-THE-COURT: JODI ADAMS
Adams earned the Off-the-Court Award for her management of all MCA revenue and expenses during a record year for MCA revenue. The award also recognizes the work she did in 2013 to transition the MCA to a new bank account to accommodate a name change. Honorable Mention: Greg Adams for his work with Mahaffie Farmstead and Sunflower Wickets. Honorable Mention: Matt Griffith for planning and hosting the USCA Nine Wicket National Championship at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, MO.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: BILL BERG
Honorable Mention: Jason Johnson

JUNIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: TAYLOR AIRRINGTON

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: NATE BENZ
Honorable Mention: Taylor Airrington

GROUNDSKEEPER OF THE YEAR: BILL BERG Berg was awarded Groundskeeper of the year for his work in preparing the courts for the 2014 Kansas Challenge and for the opening of his nine wicket lawn at the Cleveland Croquet Club.

Also see: 2013 MCA President's Awards