TEG
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2016
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PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING
FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1895
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Good Evening
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Emporia knows how
to put on a show.
WWW.EMPORIAGAZETTE.COM
WEATHERING THE STORMS
2016 Lyon County
Fair finds success
despite rain
By John Robinson
[email protected]
As the last car was wheeled out
of the demolition derby Saturday,
so ended the 2016 Lyon County
Fair.
Aside from some tricky weather,
Fair Board President Ken Duff considered the latest fair a success.
“Mother Nature gave us a few
hiccups, but the fair board jumped
in there and got it done,” Duff said,
noting the worst was the night of
the Phil Vassar concert, which included a one-hour delay because of
rain.
“Saturday, the day of the concert, that was the worst — we
were setting up the stage and it
was pouring down rain — but the
weather changed quickly and it all
worked out. We had a great concert.”
Ember Mendoza, age 6, had to
agree. She was at the Phil Vassar
concert and was back at the fair a
week later. Her mind was squarely
Please see Fair, Page 16
Fairgoers watch as a competitor tries to pull the weighted sled in the truck and tractor pull on Friday.
P H O T O S
B Y
P D G A
J O H N S O N / S P E C I A L
W O R L D
T O
T H E
G A Z E T T E
C H A M P I O N S H I P S
COURTESY PHOTO
2 0 1 6
K E N D R A
WYSOCKI DETHRONES
MCBETH TO CLAIM FIRST PDGA
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
By Steve Hill
Ultiworld Disc Golf
Momentum.
Defined as the force that allows
something to continue or to grow
stronger as time passes, it’s also been
the hallmark of Ricky Wysocki’s 2016
season, which culminated in his first
PDGA World Championship victory
Saturday at the Emporia Country
Club.
Nursing a five-shot lead over Paul
McBeth heading into the Final 9,
Wysocki continued the steady, safe
play that has characterized his week
in Kansas before putting on the gas
for one last push to take home the
win. His 3-under par 28 in the finals
— which were effectively decided after three holes — brought him to a
58-under par 282 for the marathon
VOL. 125, NO. 38
A WIN FOR
EMPORIA
By John Robinson
[email protected]
tournament and netted him a hefty
$10,000 payday. McBeth’s 52-under
par 288 left him in second place with
$5,000 and marked the first time in
five years he hasn’t hoisted the championship trophy.
Nikko Locastro posted a 46-under
par 294 for the event to take home
third place and $3,000, while Cameron Colglazier’s 44-under par 296 was
good for fourth place and $2,000.
Wysocki, who had played bridesmaid to McBeth at the last two
Worlds, led wire-to-wire during the
99-hole tournament.
“It feels amazing, just to be able
to reach my goal of becoming world
champion,” Wysocki said. “I set out
to do this when I started my career.
The beginning [of] this week, it was
just a mental battle with myself; I
was so pumped up and amped up
about the tournament that I didn’t
sleep all week. I’m just exhausted
Valarie Jenkins and Ricky
Wysocki were the big winners
between the links at the 2016
PDGA World Championships,
but there was another winner
at the end of the contest. The
city of Emporia.
“I think things went very
well,” Casey Woods, executive director of Emporia Main
Street, said. “Dynamic Discs
does a fantastic job of running
a tournament — and when you
have courses designed by a local world champion that helps
— but we’ve received a lot of
positive feedback from the participants this year.”
Woods said due to Dynamic
Discs’ location in downtown
Emporia, the tournament
served as a way to showcase local business for those visiting.
“We had a lot of reports
from local retailers and restaurants and entertainment facilities that people visited them,”
he said. “These are profession-
Please see Wysocki, Page 3
Please see Win, Page 16
COURTESY PHOTO
JENKINS WINS HER 4TH PDGA
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
By Charlie Eisenhood
Ultiworld Disc Golf
Steady as she goes.
A laser-focused Valarie Jenkins
delivered another fine performance in the Final 9 at the Emporia Country Club on Saturday to
capture her fourth World Championship and her first since 2009.
As her cardmates collapsed around
her in the final nine holes, Jenkins
played the same game she played
all week: smart, accurate, consistent disc golf.
“It feels incredible,” she said. “It
feels amazing to throw the shots
that I wanted to throw, to make
the big putts under pressure. And
that’s what it all comes down to.
These Final 9s, you never know
what’s going to happen, with the
crowds and all the excitement. So
I was just really happy to play how
I wanted to play.”
Jenkins teed off on Hole 1 at the
Country Club behind by a stroke.
She had never led in the tourna-
ment, and was only tied for the
lead for the first three holes of the
first round on Tuesday. Four holes
later, she had a four-shot lead and
another World title in sight.
Earlier in the week, the tournament looked poised to be a battle
between the worlds No. 1 and No.
2 players — Catrina Allen and
Paige Pierce. Allen held a lead
through the first three rounds, but
collapsed in the fourth round as
Pierce surged to the lead. Friday’s
semifinal round was the opposite
— Pierce had a disastrous front
nine and quickly gave back her
lead. Allen and Pierce were tied at
10 under heading into the Final 9.
All the while, Jenkins was simmering just below the lead.
“I just kept steady, steady, especially with my emotions,” she said.
She pulled even with Pierce on
Hole 11 — the third hole of the
final nine holes — with a 30-foot
birdie putt. Allen was two shots
Please see Jenkins, Page 3