August 26, 2005 2005 World Horseshoe Champions Canada

Angeline Moisan retains her Senior Women's World title


The 81st Annual World Horseshoe Pitching Tournament, was held in Bakersfield, California from July 18 through 30, 2005. Entries were down at 824 with 41 States and 2 Countries represented. There were 15 from Canada: 6 from B.C., 2 from Alberta, 4 from Ontario and 3 from Quebec. See the list of entries by State, Province. The youngest competitor was Matthew Williams age 5 ½, of Elkgrove, CA; the oldest was Ken Schulze age 89, of Santa Rosa, CA.

World Champions were crowned in 8 divisions. Here they are:
Men: Alan FRANCIS, Defiance, OH 23-0 84.65
Women: Sue SNYDER, Madisonville, KY 22-1 82.39
Elder: Paul McCREERY, Texas City, TX 11-1 76.41
Senior Men: Tom WESTBROOK, Edgemoor, SC 10-1 67.15
Senior Women: Angeline MOISAN, St-Raymond, QC 5-0 68.70
Junior Boys: Matthew KORPELA, Minnesota 11-0 73.06
Junior Girls: Amy HORTON, California 5-1 38.77
PeeWees: Jason BEACH, Kansas 7-0 31.07

Among the highlights is the unprecedented 11th Men’s title by Alan Francis, who also pitched only the 3rd perfect game ever in the Men’s division at the World Tournament. The last to do it was Elmer Hohl in 1968. This year a Canadian was involved again, but as a victim as Francis pitched a perfect game of 30 shoes against our Canadian Buddy Dyrda (from B.C.). Buddy with a 17th place, and Andre Leclerc with a 5th place were our 2 Canadians in the Men’s Championship. We would have had a 3rd one, but Stan Leis had to drop out after qualifying due to a sore back. Walter Ray Williams Jr, pitching lefthanded, was also very impressive in finishing runner-up to Francis. Averages were down in the Men's division featuring only 11 players over 60%. We have to go back to 1929 to find fewer championship men over 60%! Alan Francis' stiffest test this year was a 67.9% game pitched at him by Robert Booe! Whatever the reasons for his opponent's low averages, Francis is definitely not affected as he averaged 84.65% for 23 games! Shannon Foster (4th place) was the only player to gather 20 points against the champion.

We had two Canadians in the Women’s championship with Sylvianne Moisan taking 3rd place behind Sue Snyder and Joan Elmore, while Elyse Brunelle from B.C. was 21st. The top 3 players are the same as in 2004. Sylvianne Moisan, then standing at 2 losses, came close to creating a "possible playoff situation for her" but lost to Sue Snyder's 88.8% 23-42 despite an 80% effort in 80 shoes (round 20). A round earlier, Sue had given Joan Elmore her first loss 42-33 in the longest game of the tournament, 104 shoes (averages were 84.7% vs 81.7%). Both Sue and Joan went into the last round tied for first, but the now eliminated Sylvianne shot 82.4% in 102 shoes, defeating Joan (80.4%) 40-34. This gave Sue Snyder her 6th Women's World title. Rookie Debra Odum from Clute, Texas, was very impressive winning her first 16 games including a 42-16 win against Sue Snyder (round 14). She lost consecutive games to Joan and Sylvianne (rounds 17 and 18) but stayed in the running at 2 losses until the last two rounds which she lost after developing a stress fracture in her right foot.

Drew Becker from Ontario took 3rd place in the Junior Boys championship won by Matthew Korpela of Minnesota. Korpela went undefeated but won the deciding game against runner-up Tony White 43-31 (round 9). He then escaped 40-38 against John Perry and clinched the title by beating Nathan Heinritz (last round). Drew 's losses came to the hands of Korpela, Perry and White. In the Junior Girls division, a playoff was again necessary to determine the champion. Amy Horton, who had lost her last round game to Kiri Cook, reversed the wind in the playoff by winning 41-36!

For the 6th consecutive year, one of the World Champions comes from Canada. This year Quebec’s Angeline Moisan took the Senior Women’s title edging MaryAnn Peninger in the final game. As in 2004, they both reached the final round undefeated and the final score was almost identical to their 2004 encounter. This year, Angeline saved her high game (78.8%) to win 41-22 against MaryAnn (67.3). We didn't have any Canadians who qualified in the Senior Men's and Elders' Championships. Paul McCreery retained his crown in the Elders' defeating fellow Texan Ed Arionus in a playoff, while a new champion was crowned in the Senior Men's division: Tom Westbrook from South Carolina.

Despite great efforts by the hosts, the media coverage was very limited this year. Average temperature was "California type" between 100 and 110 f. The air conditioned buildings were appreciated though one was not too well lighted (nicknamed the "dark building").

The inductees into the NHPA Hall of Fame for 2005 are Reinhard Backer and Jesse Gonzales.
The next World Tournaments will be held in:
- 2006 - Gillette, Wyoming (July 10-22, 2006)
- 2007 - Ardmore, Oklahoma (July 23, August 4, 2007)
- 2008 – Decatur, Alabama (either last 2 of July or last of July and 1st of August)


Other interesting links about the World Tournament and our Canadians:


Congratulations!


(by Andre Leclerc)


Back to Main Page