Feijen Wins Viking National Championship

Feijen Wins Viking National ChampionshipBy Bill RosenbergerThe Viking Cue National Championship came to a close Sunday night with awell known but unexpected name taking home the title. Holland native Niels Feijen, who last won a Viking event in 1998, went undefeated through the five-day tournament to stake him claim on the $7,650 prize.Second place went to Troy Frank, who won nine straight matches in the one-loss side after falling in the third round to Shannon Daulton. His path to the finals included victories over Shawn Putnam, Marco Marquez and Ike Runnels, all in the left bracket. And early on in the final match, it looked as if Frank was on his way to a remarkable comeback victory. Up 4-3, though, Feijen took control of the match and raced to an 11-7 win.
Runnels, who appeared sick during Sunday’s action, came back from what seemed like an impossible deficit on Saturday night to oust John Macias from the tournament. Down 10-3, Runnels won eight straight games to earn the 11-10 victory and move on. After advancing through the bracket on the final day, he fell to Feijen 11-3 in the hot seat, followed by an 11-7 defeat to Frank in the semifinals.Illinois native and local favorite James Baraks finished in fifth with Earl Strickland. Santos Sambajon Jr. also made an impressive comeback after falling to Jeff Abernathy in a middle-round match. Sambajon came all the way back to earn a tie for seventh with Macias. Another surprise might have been the players who finished tied for thirteenth. Charlie Bryant, Chris Orme, Ronnie Wiseman, and Shawn Putnam all were eliminated and left out of the top twelve finishers.Results:1st Niels Feijen $7,6502nd Troy Frank $5,1003rd Ike Runnels $3,4004th Marco Marquez $2,5005th James Baraks, Earl Strickland $1,6007th Santos Sambajon Jr., John Macias $1,0509th Gil Hernandez, Mike Bandy, John Schmidt, Jon Kuchero $57513th Charlie Bryant, Chris Orme, Ronnie Wiseman, Shawn Putnam $37517th Tom Spencer, Joe Cupertino, Shannon Daulton, Justin Bergman, Scott Cohen, Cas Marcinkowski, Jeff Abernathy, Gordy Vanderveer $250 Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news from the Viking Cue Open National Championship.

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