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1st Bryan Benwitz repeated as top finisher with his not-quite-perfect-but-still-perfectly-sufficient 3-1 +228 record. A 486-306 win over Helen Flores in the first round was a good start, aided by bingos of OUTLETS, UNTWINED, and ANTISMUT (Helen had OUTVIES on her end). Bryan played three more bingos while beating Ron Malzer 418-317, but the win was tarnished by Bryan's phony OVERSPUN, which was a reasonable attempt given that OVERSPIN is a word. Sadly, OVERSPIN isn't a verb, but a noun describing a type of spin you would put on a ball. At this point in the night, Bryan was one game away from attaining another ten-game winning streak, but his hopes were mercilessly crushed as he was stomped by Lynda Finn, 301-487. Lynda also put a stop to Bryan's recent 14-game streak, meaning that Lynda now officially has a reputation as a "Bryan stopper". Putting that loss behind him, Bryan started on his newest winning streak by winning big against Dennis Lloyd, 530-397, this time playing four bingos: ABSINTHE, DIGITALS, FEIGNED, and DUNGAREE.

2nd Charles Reinke was involved with the first tie game of the club season, finishing 3-1-1 +200 and placing in second due to a ranking algorithm that apparently looks only at wins (some ranking algorithms would give Charles 3.5, with a tie counting as .5 wins). The tie game was a 430-430 affair against Mark Kenas, where Charles had BAPTISE and DISAGREE, while Mark had TRIUNES (one "three-themed" bingo), TRICORNE (two "three-themed" bingos), and RANZELS# (dang it). This tie was partial revenge for Charles' earlier 438-474 loss to Mark, where Mark's 128-point 3x3 of MONETISE was just too much damage to overcome, despite Charles' KALEWIFE, ANIMATER, and ARRASENE#. Charles' big game was a 476-388 win over Thomas Reinke, where Thomas struck with some Collins-only bingos (TUNIEST#, RENDANG#) and Charles added one of his own (SYNEDRIA#, FAILURES, PARANOEA). Charles finished with well-fought wins against Dennis Lloyd, 431-385, and Lynda Finn, 475-373.

3rd Ron Malzer finished at 3-1 +12. He started strong with a 399-355 victory over Lynda Finn, playing the word SEXTING in direct defiance of Bryan's ANTISMUT, which was played in the same round. Ron's defiance of Bryan would be short lived as he would lose to Bryan in the very next round, 317-418. Things turned around in round three as Ron continued his unbeaten lifetime record against Dave Kinzer, now at 4-0, with a 426-354 victory. Ron bingoed with UNERASED and the phony STRIDED* (STRODE or STRIDDEN would be the valid past tenses of STRIDE). Ron's third and final win came against Richard Lauder, and with as little leeway as is possible in a game where the point values are all integers; the final tally was 383-382, with each player getting one bingo (COWRITE for Ron, CRAWLED for Richard).

Despite being out of the top three, Thomas Reinke set a probable club record by bingoing a whopping 19 times in five games. He had two games where he bingoed five times, and he added word-of-the-week WHITLOWS to his pile of accolades.

1st Bryan Benwitz, despite an arrival that can only be characterized as "damp" (bordering on "waterlogged"), overcame various forms of adversity to finish at 4-0 +636 with a stratospheric 491 per-game average. None of his games were decided by less than 100 points. His "worst" game occurred in round one when he scored "only" 441 points and "only" got one bingo, SIGNETS, in a 441-311 win against Sara McLaughlin. Round two saw improvement in every facet as he beat Richard Lauder 535-380; Bryan bingoed with NUTSIER and TROLAND, while Richard had CLEAROUT and STRONGER. Bryan then trounced Thomas Reinke, 520-309, getting down an assortment of high-probability bingos: DIATRON, THEBAINE, and SORTIES. Three more bingos (OUTRACES, LEPROSE, VIOLATOR) in a 466-326 victory against Dennis Lloyd ensured Bryan's rightful spot at the tippy-top of the night's standings.

2nd Charles Reinke finished 3-2 +443, well back of Bryan's 4-0 but well ahead of the other 3-2 finisher. Charles had a nice start against Mark Kenas, finding TEASING and OXCARTS (vs. Mark's BRATTLED and RIGIDEST) to take a 440-381 win. The bingos temporarily dried up in a game against Thomas Reinke, and Charles had to watch his opponent's PREENACT, CONATUS, and RUBIFIES# hit the board in a 348-426 loss. Charles then lost the traditional Mark Kenas rematch, 400-469, despite some common seven-letter finds of NIOBATE and TERRANE (fun fact: NIOBATE hasn't been played at club since 2014, despite being #71 in the list of probable seven-letter words). Charles gained some spread when he took Richard Lauder to the metaphorical cleaners, 562-190, and gained another sizable chunk of spread by defeating Lynda Finn 438-279.

3rd Thomas Reinke finished an identical 3-2, but with a -106 point spread, was far back from the silver medal. He started with a close contest against Lynda Finn, where being outbingoed (AUXESIS against BANDAGES + ENDANGER) didn't stop him from taking a 405-387 victory. A tough two-on-one match against Charles Reinke and Mark Kenas was partially successful, with Thomas taking one game (beating Charles 426-348) while dropping the other (391-490 against Mark). Clearly in a vulnerable position after having expended so much brain power, Thomas lost to the Bryan Benwitz (who apparently was facing no shortage of brain power, being as he is the Bryaniac) 309-520. A winning record was salvaged when Thomas held Mark bingoless in a 475-367 rematch, finding ABSENTEE, PANDANI, and STOODEN# in the process.

Sara's nifty find of OTITISES was word of the week. Strangely, the letters EIIOSSTT make another eight-letter word: OSTEITIS.

1st Thomas Reinke topped a healthy assortment of thirteen players with his flawless 5-0 +293 record. He began with a 460-392 win over Mark Kenas, playing ATONIES, BOTTINE#, and LATTINS to Mark's SCRIPTER and CERRIAL#. He then faced off against newcomer (but seasoned tournament player) Kristy Zurbrick and won in a high-scoring affair, 472-447. Thomas' sole bingo was COMETARY, while Kristy got down three of her own: HERNIATE, CESTOID, and HOISTED. Thomas didn't get any time to breathe as he was immediately tossed into a two-on-one against fearsome Collins competitors Charles Reinke and Mark Kenas; this proved to be no problem as Thomas won both, 423-395 against Charles and an eye-popping 525-515 game against Mark. That latter game saw Mark go wild with his Collins knowledge, deploying BEDTIMES, HUANACOS#, ANTLIAE#, and STODGER#, while Thomas contributed to the 1000-point effort with GROOMERS, SODDIER#, and UILLEANN#. Thomas wrapped things up with a convincing win over Lynda Finn, 457-295.

2nd Charles Reinke had a strong night at 4-1 +427, but a third-straight loss to Thomas Reinke demoted him to second place in the weekly standings. Round one had Charles playing two players at once, and as the dust settled from the three-way fracas, Charles emerged victorious in both games, defeating Bryan Benwitz 431-373 and Karl Armstrong 464-339. Among Charles' bingos was a nine-letter LORICATES played against Karl. Charles piled on three more bingos (SUNTANS, RIGORIST, ALLUSION) in a 479-371 win against Mark Kenas, who got down the useful CSW-only bingo AEGIRITE#. After a minor hiccup in round three which consisted of a 395-423 loss to his brother, Charles turned around and notched an even 500 points in the rematch against Mark, who scored 336. Charles' frenzy of bingos featured FILCHED, TUNEUPS, SAGUARO, and GALENITE.

3rd Bryan Benwitz rounded out the top three with a 3-1 +93 record. Despite bingos of REFUTERS and DIPLOMAT, Bryan was felled in the very first game by Charles Reinke, 373-431; Bryan promptly redirected his fury onto the unsuspecting Richard Lauder, resulting in three bingos (FLEECING, IONIUMS, DAINTIER) and a 439-389 win. Bryan's usually high-flying scoring style was partially stymied when he went up against Kristy Zurbrick, but he managed to prevail regardless, 376-348. Kristy found ARSENAL in that one, while Bryan had the nice FOVEOLES. Bryan's final act was a 422-349 win against Sara McLaughlin, where Sara's not-self-descriptive play of ASININE for 98 just wasn't enough to swing the game in her favor.

We enjoyed Milio's subs and shared fond memories of Sue Goldstein. Thanks to Lynda for helping organize the food and for bringing an abundance of cookies. All that was missing was Sue's customary mini-bottle of diet caffeine-free coke.

We welcomed the vacationing Kristy Zurbrick to our club as well. Her years of tournament experience resulted in a much stronger performance than the average newcomer (2-2 with a 416 per-game average and nine bingos!). Alas, this was probably a one-time appearance as her native Ohio beckons her back. But all Wisconsinites are encouraged to visit her Columbus, Ohio club if ever in the area. Her fantastic find of CHEFDOMS was word of the week.