CMCo Native Wins National Marble Tournament, First From NJ

WILDWOOD – The 2022 National Marbles Tournament returned after a two-year hiatus to Ringer Stadium in Wildwood and ended with Jessica Johnson of the Cape May County Marbles Team claiming the championship title of this year’s queen on June 23.
Johnson defeated her teammate, Evelyn Merino, 8-5 in games of Ringer to become the first ever marbles champion from New Jersey to grab the top spot in the 99-year history of the National Marbles Tournament.  In the boys’ side of competition, Cape May County’s Marco Juarez was runner-up to this year’s winner, Todd Kmiecik of Middletown, MD.  Both of the winners will each receive $2,000 scholarships to go towards their college educations.
This year’s tournament was also historic because it was the first time that six (6) players finished in the top 16 players out of the field of 34 players who came from all over the country.  Three local (3) girls placed in the top eight (8) – Johnson, Merino and Wildwood’s Sarai Salas, and the same for their male counterparts – Juarez, Samuel Santiago (Cape May County) and Rasheem Jones (Wildwood).
Johnson’s additional “claim to fame” was receiving the award as this year’s Girls’ Stick Champion, with a total of five (5) sticks during the four-day long competition.  A stick is when a player shoots out seven (7) marbles in his/her first turn.  The shooter marbles “sticks,” remaining in the ring to allow a player to continue his/her turn in trying to shoot out the game marbles.
Traditionally held on the week after Father’s Day each year, preliminary round-robin tournament competition took place Monday through Wednesday June 20-22, with the top eight (8) girls and boys announced at the end of the preliminaries.  Semi-finals took place on Thursday, June 23, with the eight (8) champions playing Ringer in two brackets, and the winners of those brackets meeting in the finals.  Ringer is a game where seven (7) of the 13 marbles placed in an X-formation in the center of the 10-foot ring must be shot out to win.  To become the National Champion, a player has to win eight (8) games in the finals competition.
The Cape May County and Wildwood Marbles teams are coached by Betty Harshaw and Jerry Sieber.