1st Mark Kenas steamrolled through a tough field of Reinkes, finishing 4-0 and averaging a simply obscene 525 points per game. We all knew that the Collins lexicon inflates scores a bit, but I guess we didn't know the full extent of that inflation. Mark's closest game was in round one, but it was still a comfortable win over Charles Reinke, 519-437. A 185-point triple-triple of TEAWARES did the work of three "conventional" bingos, and all but guaranteed the win. A rematch was not as close, with Mark taking the win 537-374, thanks to OPENING, TEATIME, and UNDERWIT#. Mark reserved the full fury of his recently-refreshed bingo knowledge for Thomas Reinke, as he played four bingos in each of their two games: NORLAND, SHARIAT#, CANDOUR, and PILSENER in a 526-395 win, and OVERUSE, TROATED#, HOUTING#, and ENTIRELY in the 519-345 rematch victory.

2nd Andy Bohnsack formed one half of the rare "undefeated tandem" along with Mark, with an identical 4-0 record but a lesser +440 point spread. Due to conflicting lexical preferences, neither player was offered the opportunity to dethrone the other, and the consequence is that they have to fight over the throne (I think Mark wins that battle). Andy started with a 469-321 win over second-timer Ari Smith, and while his CALZONE and PISTONS were nice, the phony FERRETIN* was not so nice (he was probably thinking of FERRITIN). He then reached a local maximum with a 570-302 walloping of Sara McLaughlin, finding three more bingos: LEFTIES, NECROSE, and GOSPORT. In round three, Andy matched up against his nemesis in the yearly standings, Bryan Benwitz, and prevailed in a close one, 440-429. Bryan got UNSAVED and CTENIDIA to Andy's TUMBLES and BROTHERS. Andy finished up his perfect record by beating Lynda Finn 410-397 in a somewhat anomalous game; the winner had zero bingos while the loser had three: ISOLATE, ENDEAVOR, and PINDERS.

3rd Lynda Finn went 3-1 +283, winning the first three before falling to Andy in the final round. I suppose if they hadn't been paired in the last game, we could have had three 4-0 finishers. That seems like a missed opportunity. Anyway, Lynda scored above 400 in all of her wins, starting with a 436-321 victory against Dave Kinzer where she played the only bingo on the board, HALITES. Round two saw Lynda vanquish Charles Reinke, 445-414, getting bingos of ARCADES, STRIGIL, and TARDIVE. A 458-308 win over Dennis Lloyd got Lynda to 3-0, but she lost her final game to Andy Bohnsack 397-410. Complaints related to the pairing methodology that resulted in this loss can be sent to idontcheckthisinbox@madisonscrabble.com