Stolem couple and Korsbeck invade Vegas

Over a month ago in the first week of May, a few local dart throwers proved that the sport can take you further than just your local bar. Shane Stolem, his wife Jacy, Ryan Kovach, Lenny Cebulski and local KMMR radio announcer Kelly Korsbeck all went to and had success in Las Vegas.

“This was the first time, first national tournament, first time to Vegas and it worked out really well,” Korsbeck said.

Korsbeck lost his first event, 501. He bounced back in Cricket and won first place. He also took first place in a new event, which teamed up throwers with partners from across the country.

In the event titled “Open Doubles Combo”, Korsbeck teamed up with Dustin Holt from Bloomington, IL.

“We were the inaugural winners of that competition,” Korsbeck said.

For Shane, it was his second time competing in Las Vegas.

“Last year I went there, competed and got fourth team-wise,” Shane said noting that it was Jacy’s first time going to Vegas.

This year Shane and Jacy compete in team (four players), doubles and mixed doubles. Shane and Jacy lost out in team play with Korsbeck and Kovach after day two, however the couple showed great chemistry in mixed doubles and won the event.

“It was a night of some really good darts,” Shane said. “I threw well above my average that night.”

He went to Vegas averaging 22.49 points per dart, but he threw 2.9 ppd higher that week in Vegas.

“I did pretty good,” Jacy said. “I guess I was a little bit better than my average, I went down throwing a 16 and in Vegas I threw a 19. It took both of us, he didn’t do it all by himself.”

Shane went on to say that during triples, his wife tried her best to win it all by herself.

“Ryan and I couldn’t hit anything,” Shane said. “She was throwing hat-tricks, tons, you name it.”

Winning in Vegas makes the trip that much sweeter, but Korsbeck enjoyed the experience overall.

“It was a very good experience,” Korsbeck said. “One of the nice things about darts is that everybody is usually pretty lax. So you’re not getting a whole lot of people that are zoned in.”

In a typical venue, you may see only a couple of dart boards, however Korsbeck noted that there were 283 boards set up for the tourney.

“They ran for nine days in May and very rarely do you come across somebody who was not pleasant to be around,” Korsbeck said. “It’s just a bunch of people that love the game and they love the camaraderie.”

He recalled the venue as very friendly with folks more than willing to help others get around.

“They had it well set up that you could get your drinks relatively close to anywhere on the floor,” Korsbeck said.

Shane also enjoyed the hospitality.

“The whole experience in Vegas, I’ve never really seen much of the bad side of it,” Shane said. “Like you’ve heard horror stories here or there, I’ve never seen it. I’ve gone and had fun. Everybody’s been friendly, most of the time.”

The only incident in which the Malta locals felt they were treated mean was at Dick’s Restaurant, a place where you pay for the help to be mean to you.

Vegas also brought Shane to wonder, what if he raised his hand for a high five every time he met someone in Vegas.

“He probably racked up 150 high fives in about a four hour period plus four hugs,”