Local Woman Wins Hartland Patch Bracket Contest

Hartland resident Melanie Kahl was rooting for Butler to win, but it was her pick of Connecticut to reach the Final Four that helped her win the Hartland Patch Bracket Contest.

Kahl, 40, will receive a $25 Speedway fuel card for finishing first out of 17 players in a game hosted on CBSsports.com.

"I couldn't believe that I moved all the way up to first place - No WAY!! :)," wrote the mother of two in response to an email from Hartland Patch notifying her of the results.

"I feel great about winning. Our family (my husband, and our two boys) always fill out brackets, just for fun, and I thought I'd have fun entering the contest, since it was local."

Kahl said her selection strategy was to go from what she knows.

“I don't really pick based on any knowledge about the teams, just teams I like, or are from states I've lived in, or have family in,” she said. “The tournament was fun to watch.”

It was close, too. Kahl finished a mere one point ahead of Patch Contributor Megan Baughman. Charlotte Wisniewski, a six-toed cat, had the most correct by using one of the site's automated features, but finished in a tie for fourth in points. (Yes, the cat had help).

I (Chris Machniak) finished 14th — far behind in the battle between Patch Editors with White Lake Editor Brooke Meier also tying for fourth.

Congratulations to Melanie. We hope those who played had fun. Here are the final results:

Rank

Players

Score

Correct

1

Melanie Kahl

62

35

2

Patch Contributor Megan Baughman

61

36

3

Sharon Neal

59

35

4

White Lake Patch Editor Brooke Meier

57

35

4

Charlotte Wisniewski

57

38

6

Mandy Joe Mach

55

34

6

Tim Zettel

55

34

6

Jordan Ruterbusch

55

36

9

Jeff Lubeski

54

36

10

Patch Contributor Blake Hasenzahl

53

36

11

Patch Contributor Joshua Henschke

49

36

11

Ace Wilkinson

49

32

11

Erik Sabol

49

35

14

Hartland Patch Editor Christofer Machniak

47

33

15

Patch Contributor Sherri Yezbick-Taylor

44

33

16

Frank Leppek

42

28

17

Nathan Oake

37

30

Editor's note: Those connected to Patch were not eligible to win, although they could play.