Three champions were crowned Saturday afternoon in the $100,000 APA 9-Ball Shootout.

In the green tier (SL 1-3), it was Edie Dery of Foxboro, Mass., defeating Kathy Eads of Ogallala, Neb., 19-9. Dery advanced to the Final Round with a victory over Howard Dorfman of Soquel, Calif. Eads advanced after defeating Sharon Jackson of Oklahoma City.

In the white tier (SL 4&5), Chris Abellera of Sunnyvale, Calif., defeated Alex Balogi of San Jose, Calif., 46-29. Abellera defeated Anita Hill of Norman, Okla., to advance to the Finals, while Balogi advanced with a win over Sandy Barrett of Greencastle, Pa.

In the black tier (SL 6-9), Richard Schmiegel Jr. of Bay City, Mich., defeated Brian Strand of Indianapolis, 75-9. Schmiegel Jr. advanced to the Final Round with a victory over Michael Mauney of Statesville, N.C. Strand advanced after a win over Tom Rowe of Henderson, Nev.

Each champion received a prize package worth $10,000 in cash and prizes.

Nearly 9,000 amateur shooters attempted to qualify for the 2002 APA 9-Ball Shootout Singles Championship in their local league area. A total of 977 poolplayers made it to the regional level of the 9-Ball Shootout before the field was whittled down to 74 men and women competing this weekend for 9-Ball crowns in each of the three skill level tiers.

Green Tier	White Tier	Black Tier
1st - Edie Dery	1st - Chris Abellera	1st - Richard Schmiegel Jr.
2nd - Kathy Eads	(no picture available) 2nd - Alex Balogi	2nd - Brian Strand
3rd - Howard Dorfman and Sharon Jackson	3rd - Anita Hill and Sandy Barrett (not pictured)	3rd - Michael Mauney and Tom Rowe