New Mexico Tech started participating in ACUI events in the Spring of 2001. Thanks goes to Auxiliary Services for informing us of ACUI and the event, helping us through the associated paper work, and to organize the trip. Information on the qualifying tournaments held by the Billy Aardd's Club can be found under the web page for tournaments they've hosted ( Tournaments: Announcements and Schedules).
The first team went to the ACUI regional event hosted at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Members of the team were, from 1st place to sixth: John Dietrich, Steve Deal, Dave Byrd, Nick Tarasenko, Aaron Adcock, and Orlando Chaparro. We did pretty well for our first time out. For additional details see NMT, 2001 ACUI Qualifier and 2001 Regional.
Our second event, Spring of 2002, was at NMSU. This time we sent both a Women's team and a Men's team. On the Women's team were: Kelly Watson, and Tammy Oldfield. The men's team had: Dave Byrd, John Dietrich, Neil Barnas, Jeremy Manning, Nick Tarasenko, and Will Thompson. John Dietrich was playing well that week and came in second (just barely missing first in a tight contest). Nick placed 5-6, and Neil came in 7-8. For additional details see NMT, 2002 ACUI Qualifier and 2002 Regional. more info.
Spring 2003 saw us out at Weber State (Utah). The Women's team was: Layla Forman, Elizabeth Ball, Trista Sloan, and Karly Strand. The Men's team was: Will Thompson, Jeremiah Gage, Nick Tarasenko, Carsten Steinebach, and John Kouns. For additional details see NMT, 2003 ACUI Qualifier and 2003 Regional.
We went to the University of Wyoming in Laramie for the Spring 2004 tournament. Elizabeth Ball, and Trista Sloan were on the Women's team. The Men's team was Jeremiah Gage, Nick Tarasenko, Will Thompson, Larry Padilla, Lloyd Carothers, and Cris Cruz. Liz took third place and ended up going to Nationals. Larry took 9-12, and Lloyd took 13-16 (out of 43). For additional details see NMT, 2004 ACUI Qualifier and 2004 Regional.
In 2005 the ACUI regional was held at UNM. For the Women's team we sent Amanda Thom, Stacy O'Neil and Trista Sloan. The Men's team was: Larry Padilla, Jeremiah Gage, Nick Tarasenko, Paul Giannuzzi, and T.J. McCormack. For additional details see NMT, 2005 ACUI Qualifier and 2005 Regional.
The Spring 2006 regional was at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The Women's team was: Stacy O'Neil, and Julie Vann. The Men's team was Francisco Avila, Jacob Searcy, Christian Zwileneff, Preston Dell, Paul Giannuzzi, and Nate Reich. Stacy won second place. For additional details see NMT, 2006 ACUI Qualifier and 2006 Regional.
The University of Utah, Salt Lake City hosted the Spring 2007 regional tournament. Stacy O'Neil and Melinda Moore were on the Women's team. Dylan Merrigan, Jacob Searcy, Chris Cruz, and Francisco Avila were on the Men's team. Jake came in fourth. See NMT, 2007 ACUI Qualifier for more info.
The 2008 regional was held at the University of Colorado, Colorado Spring. The Women's team was Stacy O'Neil and Delia Mocanu. The Men's team was Francisco Avila, David Herceg, and Chris Aitken. Delia came in second and Stacy took third! Delia went on to compete at Nationals. See NMT, 2008 ACUI Qualifier for more info.
In 2009, we went to the regional at Utah State University. Delia Mocanu and Amanda Thom were on the Women's team. The Men's team was Paul Giannuzzi and Chris Aitken. Chris got 4th and qualified for Nationals. The nationals were at University of Illinois. See NMT, 2009 ACUI Qualifier for more info.
In 2010 we went to the University of Wyoming at Laramie. Delia Mocanu was Tech's Women's entry. Tato Gigineishvili, David Kukhalashvili, Paul Giannuzzi, Chris Aitken were on the Men's team. Both Tato and Paul played very well but they got eliminated in the quarterfinals by the 1st and 2nd place winners respectively. Delia won first in the regionals. In July, Delia won 2nd place at the nationals in Ann Arbor, Michigan. See NMT, 2010 ACUI Qualifier for more info.
Information on 2011 still needs to be verified. What is known is that Gwendolyn Bahun won 1st place in regionals. Though having graduated from Tech, Delia Mocanu won the nationals held at Virginia Tech (while she was attending Northeastern University).
We are hoping the field for this year's qualifying tournament will be larger than the last few years. Tech students have done well at these ACUI regional events and it would be nice to continue the trend.
Here's some interesting information from ACUI's Billiards page about pool at various Universities and Colleges. The article Calling All College-Bound Players! appeared in Pool & Billiard Magazine and was written by collegiate pool guru Betsy Sundholm.