The 2008 Miller Lite Open

Some of the "highlights"...

York PA -  22 players entered the Pro Draw at the Miller Lite Open, hosted by The Athletic of York, in York, PA.  The event was a complete sellout, and there was definitely a buzz in club.  The top 4 seeds were Shane Vanderson, Mitch Williams, Andy Hawthorne, and Jason Sylvester.  The round of 32's opened with a classic match between Mitch Posner(Captain Charisma) and Marty(Hollywood) Hammond.  Hammond prevailed in a 5 game marathon.  The Friday night 16's had a lot of good matches.  Dave Austin beat Cory Fritz in a 5 gamer that was interrupted in the 5th game by a "Beer Hinder".  With Miller Lite being a sponsor, anything can happen.  A beer was dropped from an unnamed source from above onto the court, and play had to be stopped.  Both players took it with good humor, and the match was completed with no further interruptions.  Another unique match had Dan Fowler playing in his first IRT event in quite awhile, and he looked good in beating Rich Sledzick from Massachusetts.  An upcoming young player from Maryland, Mauricio Zelada defeated current Pennsylvania State champ, John Barrett in 4 games. 
The final 8 were all solid players.  Shane beat Dave Austin in 3, Travis Aldinger beat Jason in 4, Andy ended Dan's run in 3 games, and Mitch beat Mauricio in 3.
The semi finals had a rematch of last year's final between Shane and Travis.  Travis played much better this year, and did indeed make Shane sweat.  The home crowd wasn't enough though, and Shane won in 3.  The other match had Andy retrieving Mitch's bombs.  Andy played great in splitting the first 2 games, but Mitch was too tough, and won in 4.
The finals had missiles flying all over the place.  The crowd was in awe as the guys were trading blows.  Mitch won the 1st game, and the second went into overtime, but Mitch again prevailed.  Shane's title defense came up a bit short with Mitch winning the match in 3.
These guys really represent the IRT in a great way, and were very accessible to all of the amateurs, taking pictures, and talking to a lot of different people.  We will continue to grow this event, and make it better each year.  Special thanks to Jay Walker and Travis Aldinger for making this event spectacular.