BRISTOL — The top two athletes in the local Sodbusters Horseshoe Pitching Club are pitching well this season — so well that this past weekend one left the World Horseshoe Pitching Championships as the winner in her division and the other as runner-up in his.
Debra Brown is the new Women’s World Horseshoe Pitching Champion and Brian Simmons is the runner-up in the men’s world competition. The Bristol residents earned those titles at the competition that wrapped up in Topeka, Kan., on Saturday. Both have won world titles in the past.
At last week’s competition, Brown lost her first match in the final round, 35-40, but then won 13 of the next 14 matches to claim the title with an overall 13-2 record. A remarkable 77.87 percent of the 922 shoes she tossed in the championship were ringers. She held off Joan Elmore of Tennessee in her penultimate match, hitting 81.5 percent ringers; Elmore was runner-up in the competition.
Simmons lost to his old foe Alan Francis of Ohio, who has won multiple world titles. Francis threw an outrageous 88.41 percent ringers in the competition. No slouch himself, Simmons had the second-best ringer percentage at 80.68 percent. Simmons fell to Francis in the last match of the competition, 42-30; Simmons’ 12-point defeat was the closest margin of victory that Francis saw all week.
Brown and Simmons got a warm-up for the world championship at a July 12 tournament in Bristol, when the Sodbusters Horseshoe Pitching Club hosted 85 participants in its Father’s Day Open make-up tournament. Simmons dominated the field, winning the Class A competition with a perfect 7-0 record; he threw ringers on 82.14 percent of his pitches.
Sodbusters Horseshoe Club will host the Vermont PreState tournament at its courts behind the American Legion hall in Bristol on this Sunday, Aug. 2. As of early this week more than 65 participants were signed up for the event.
The full results from the July 12 competition with win-loss record and ringer percentage were:
CLASS A
1. Brian Simmons, 7-0, 82.14; 2. Debra Brown, 5-2, 70.71; 3. Dan Gonyaw, 5-2, 60.00; 4. Gale Greene, 4-3, 69.29; 5. Jack Guyette, 3-4, 43.93; 6. Missie Riendeau, 1.5-5.5, 55.00; 7. Neil Kennedy, 1.5-5.5, 141.43; 8. Kevin Fisher, 1-6, 48.21.
Class B
1. John Remy, 7-1, 48.97; 2. Bob Barrett, 6-2, 46.55; 3. Leon O’Dell, 5-2, 38.93; 4. Kayla Bushey, 4-3, 41.79; 5. Glen Bolduc, 3-4, 43.75; 6. Charlie Guyette, 3-4, 38.21; 7. Melissa Jeffery, 1-6, 32.50; 8. Don Batchelder, 0-1, 37.50.
Class C
1. Brandyn Lebarron, 7-0, 45.71; 2. Michael Brown, 5-2, 36.07; 3. Charlie Frost, 5-2, 33.57; 4. Steve Clark, 4-3, 35.00; 5. Robert Wright, 3-4, 31.43; 6. Diana Martin, 3-4, 30.36; 7. Denny Young, 1-6, 27.50; 8. Paul Wilson, 0-7, 28.57.
Class D
1. David Hall, 6-1, 38.21; 2. Dawn Coleman, 5-2, 29.64; 3. Alan Carpenter, 4.5-2.5, 37.50; 4. Robert Richling, 4-3, 32.50; 5. Ryan Tuckett, 4-3, 31.07; 6. John Babcock, 2-5, 21.43; 7. Steve Knudsen, 1.5-5.5, 27.14; 8. Ron Williamson, 1-6, 22.50.
Class E
1. Steve Cross, 6.5-1.5, 34.38; 2. Matt Coleman, 6-2, 30.00; 3. Jordan Draper, 5-3, 32.81; 4. Bruce Duchaine, 3-5, 24.38; 5. Samantha Coleman, 4.5-3.5, 25.31; 6. Dave Trayah, 4-4, 24.38; 7. Jessica Martell, 2-6, 17.19; 8. Jerry Thompson, 3-2, 16.88; 9. Casey Ayers, 1-7, 13.13.
Class F
1. Jake Pyper, 4.5-1.5, 31.25; 2. Donna Lewis, 3.5-2.5, 29.17; 3. Jeffrey Woodcock, 2-3, 22.92; 4. Craig Brown, 3-3, 20.83; 5. Stan Bigelow, 3-3, 20.00; 6. Randy Little Sr., 2-3, 18.33; 7. Nick Youtsey, 1-5, 23.75.
Class G
1. Mistylee Baird, 5-1, 22.08; 2. John Plante, 4-2, 25.00; 3. Ron Guyette, 3-3, 22.08; 4. Joe Hill, 3-3, 21.25; 5. Bill Little, 2-4, 20.42; 6. Blakley Bigelow, 2-4, 19.58; 7. Bill Tinker, 2-4, 16.67.
Class H
1. Larry Santor, 5-1, 23.33; 2. David Paquette, 4-2, 23.33; 3. Angela Chellis, 4-2, 17.50; 4. Michael Wood, 3-3, 20.42; 5. Casey Knudsen, 2.5-3.5, 13.33; 6. Dave Adams, 1.5-4.5, 12.08; 7. Kolby Carpenter, 1-5, 13.75.
Class I
1. Derrick Lefebvre, 7-0, 24.29; 2. Tony McCullough, 5-2, 26.79; 3. Michael Devino, 5-2, 26.07; 4. Maurice Cyr, 4-3, 15.00; 5. Wyatt Guyette, 2-5, 17.50; 6. Louis Meunier, 2-5, 16.07; 7. Alan Curler, 2-5, 12.86; 8. Jeff Straley, 1-6, 10.00.
Class J
 1. Bill Alexander Jr., 5.5-1.5, 18.80; 2. Beverly Forgues, 4.5-2.5, 14.00; 3. Terri Lefebvre, 4-2, 21.67; 4. Glenn Guyette, 2.5-3.5, 15.83; 5. Vanesia Coleman, 2-4, 10.83; 6. Cody Haskins, 2-4, 7.92; 7. Ryan Litchfield, 1.5-4.5, 8.33.
Class K
1. Mallory Tenny, 7-0, 13.93; 2. Rick Fitzgerald, 5-2, 11.43; 3. Thomas Brooks Jr., 4.5-2.5, 8.93; 4. Genie Elms, 4-3, 5.71; 5. Julia Lathrop, 3.5-3.5, 6.07; 6. Miles MaCauthur, 2-5, 8.57; 7. Steven Brown, 1.5-5.5, 5.71; 8. Cindy Drake, 0.5-6.5, 3.93.