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Before this round began, I had Randy Hersom pose for a photo so I could send it on to the Charlotte Observer . I had him pick 7 random tiles from the bag so that his rack would be full and his hands looking "busy." After I took the shot, he showed me his rack. The lucky guy had picked the natural WILLOWS. His opponent, Merrill Kaitz, was happy to see those tiles go back into the bag!

Word judge Roy Peshkin told me about a round 16 game where Tina Udelson and Joey Payne tied. They decided to do a recount and despite SIX mistakes, they still ended up tied, but with a different score, 377 each.

I'm pleased to report that Marjorie Shoneboom's wallet was lost and returned to her with all its contents intact. She didn't even know she'd misplaced it until it was returned.

Just when we thought there couldn't be a player with a longer name than the Thai players, along comes division 4 player MG Ravichandran. His full name puts even Charnwit Sukhumratanaporn to shame: Mayrum Govindarajan Ravichandran.

Division 2's Carol Ravichandran just won her last game 388-256 against Kamal Dyal. She said her opponent changed her tiles four times and got both blanks for her last play.

Joan Mocine lost to Doug Hoylman. Her opponent played PIA one short of the triple spot and then played SCABIES/PIAS followed by a big X play. Joan joked about how he got smaller and smaller on the horizon as he shot off ahead of her and that the taste in her mouth was dust. When I asked her who she'd played, she said it was Holyman. When I corrected her, she figured that it was the intimidation of the name she thought he had that made her lose to him. Joan notes that I' m only interested in her losses and that I'm nowhere to be found when she has good games, like her 547 game.

Division 3's Gigi Miller beat Charlene White, 414-312. I spotted the lovely IMAGISTS for 94, played by Gigi.

Dave Wiegand (div 1) just beat Joe Edley, 405-391. WISHBONE through the N for 71 was Dave's best play.

Division 2's Mark Pistolese just eked a win against Verna Richards Berg, 364-357. Mark was down by 122 at one point, so this comeback is pretty great. Verna's best play was probably CAREX for 66 and Mark got down cOPARENT to the T for a triple and OUtSITS. Mark came all the way here from the big island of Hawaii to play in this championship. This win puts him at 11-8.

Even with Joe Edley's loss to Dave Wiegand this round, he still is atop the field with a larger cume than the other 15-4 players. Joe +1112, Sammy Okosagah +855, and Randy Hersom +608.

Division 2 has two players with 16-3 records, David Johnson +1299 and Bob Lundegaard +1107.

Dean Cullen is still atop division 3, with a 17-2 +1196 record, but Rusty Peltz is close by with a larger cume, 16-3 +1441.

A three-way tie of 15-4 records top division 4: Michael Ecsedy +1264, Harvey Wilson +1414, and Rosalind Gold +635.

Rob Matthews is two games up on the division 5 field, 16-3 +1262.

Connie Creed has crept to a two-game lead in division 6, 17-2 +1123.

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