Regional Pokemon champs crowned for SF, Seattle, and Phoenix

The first batch of regional competitions for the 2009 Pokemon Video Game World Championships have concluded. Find out who will be moving on to the National Championships!

The first four regional tournaments for the 2009 Pokemon Video Game World Championships have concluded, and eight skillful Pokemon Platinum players have prevailed and are moving onto the National Championships in St. Louis at the end of June. The winners are below.

Regional Pokemon champs crowned for SF, Seattle, and Phoenix

Seattle Junior Champion Cade Rowan (age 7, of Lynnwood, WA) and Seattle Senior Champion Daniel Tapp (age 19, of Yelm, WA)

Regional Pokemon champs crowned for SF, Seattle, and Phoenix

San Francisco Junior Champion Josh Ferris (age 12, of Stainwood, WA) and San Francisco Senior Champion Huy Ha (age 19, of Fremont, CA)

Regional Pokemon champs crowned for SF, Seattle, and Phoenix

Phoenix Junior Champion Carlos Flores (age 10, of El Paso, TX) and Phoenix Senior Champion Paul Hornak (age 21, of Hesperia, CA)

The runners-up are as follows. Note that because the tournament follows a 2-on-2 format, there are two third-place finishers for each division:

Seattle Junior runners-up:
2nd - David Hernandez: age 7, of Marysville, WA
3rd - Michael Xi: age 12, of Mill Creek, WA
3rd - Adam Byrnes:age 12, of Olympia, WA

Seattle Senior runners-up:
2nd - Derry McDonald: age 19, of Bainbridge Island, WA
3rd - David Everett: age 23, of Redmond, WA
3rd - Berton Bailey: age 25, of Bellevue, WA

San Francisco Junior runners-up:
2nd - Jeremiah Fan: age 11, of San Jose, CA
3rd - Peter Huang: age 11, of Fremont, CA
3rd - Tom Nishimura: age 9, of San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Senior runners-up:
2nd - Vinh Quach: age 19, of San Jose, CA
3rd - Michael Hill: age 21, of Vallejo, CA
3rd - Siddarth Shanmuga: age 14, of Cupertino, CA

Phoenix Junior runners-up:
2nd - Cheney Wang: age 10, of Vail, AZ
3rd - Quinn Brown: age 11, of Mesa, AZ
3rd - Kameron Jahadi: age 11, of Glendale, CA

Phoenix Senior runners-up:
2nd - Zach Greatwood: age 19, of Las Vegas, NV
3rd - Steve Wasserios: age 24, of Tucson, AZ
3rd - Jesse Strouth: age 25, of Tempe, AZ

The Seattle regionals occurred on May 9, while the San Francisco regionals took place on May 16, and the Phoenix regionals were held on May 26. The remaining regional tournaments are taking place tomorrow in Dallas, TX, and on June 6 in Philadelphia, PA, and June 13 in Nashville, TN. The National Championships will take place in St. Louis, MO on June 27, and the World Championships will take place in San Diego, CA on August 14. For more information about the Pokemon Video Game World Championships, visit PokemonVGC.com.

THE VERDICT by Dave Rudden Dave Rudden's Avatar

Our resident Pokemaniac McKinley Noble said he was going to clean up at the San Francisco regionals, but his name is nowhere to be seen on the winner's lists. I'm sure we'll hear his side of the story soon. In the meantime, I'm just going to rampantly make fun of him.