Area pool team takes first in Vegas tourney

By Jim Rueda

MANKATO — They were experienced, they were talented, they were nervous. And when they stepped off the plane from Las Vegas on June 1, they were champions.

Four women from across south central Minnesota — who dubbed themselves the Minnesota Wild —rallied from a second-round loss to win the 29th annual VNEA International Pool Championships regular team competition held the final week of May in Las Vegas. It was the first team championship for each of the 8-ball aficionados.

“I just remember thinking wow we did it,” said Chris Vorwerk of New Ulm. “I knew we had a chance even before we started playing because this is a solid team.”

Teammate Donna Hensel was also ecstatic. “I’ve been playing for about 25 years and this is the first time I’ve ever won a ‘Charlie’ for finishing first. If feels great.”

A Charlie, also referred to as a Cougar, is awarded to any individual or team that finishes in the top four in their bracket at the international competition. Hensel has a handful of other cougars lining her shelves but this was her first championship trophy.

Vorwerk and Hensel were joined in the 125-team tournament in Vegas by Judy Kelling and Dania Osmundson. Vorwerk, Kelling and Hensel play together on a team based out of the Circle Inn and on another based in Waseca. It was the Waseca team, sponsored by the D&R Star association, that played in Vegas.

The trio’s normal fourth was unable to make the trip this year, which left them searching for a final player to accompany them to the tournament. They happened to be playing a league match at Jamie’s Pub in Pemberton when they ran into long-time acquaintance Dave Osmundson, who is also an excellent pool player.

“We had seen his daughter, Dania, play and knew she was good,” said Kelling, who lives in Janesville. “We asked him if he thought she might like to go to the tournament with us and he said I don’t see why not.”

The team contacted Dania, who lives in Rochester, and she jumped at the chance. She had never competed in Las Vegas before and was looking forward to the opportunity.

Dania, 23, is by far the youngest of the foursome but has nearly 10 years of competitive pool playing under her belt. Like Vorwerk, she said she could sense early on that the team would be successful.

“I knew it right after we won our first match,” Dania said. “Even though we lost our second match — to a pretty good team — I could just tell by the way we were shooting that we could win. All we had to do was get to the championship round of 32 teams and I knew we could do it.”

After losing in the second round, the members of the Minnesota Wild worked their way back through the loser’s bracket to qualify for the Round of 32. Once there, they went undefeated the rest of the way.

While Vorwerk and Osmundson were optimistic from the get-go, Kelling and Hensel took quite a bit longer to start thinking championship. Both are experienced tournament players in Vegas and know it doesn’t take much to get de-railed.

“It was right after we were guaranteed third that I looked at Donna and said ‘you know, we can win this thing,” Kelling said.

Hensel agreed: “Once we got third, I knew we had a good shot. It was a total team effort; nobody was really hot and carrying the rest of us, we just kind of took turns getting on streaks and winning games.”

Although the league season runs from October through March, Vorwerk can’t wait to get started again.

“I want to go back right now,” she said of Vegas. “It was a fun time; we all played pretty well and came out on top. That’s pretty awesome.”