Esper Claims Croquetas Crown

Miami, FL Eight down. Clue reads “A select part of a group superior to the rest.” Five letters. Starts with “E.” Those who witnessed Geoffrey Esper’s winning 154-croqueta haul at the 2018 El Croquetazo At Calle Ocho Presented By Catalina Championship would rightfully enter “SPER” in those four blank squares to spell the name of the man who stood tallest on this day. (Turns out the crossword was written years before Geoff Esper came to be a dominant figure on the MLE circuit. The correct answer in this instance was “ELITE.”)

Esper. Elite. Same first letter. Same number of letters. Same meaning. He has ascended to the pointy end of consideration in quick time. A dominant 2017 season looks set to become a rankings-shaking 2018. Esper was all the things an eater aspires to be at the table—or should aspire to be. He was composed, clean, rhythmic. His every effort expended for maximum return. He is a results machine. He walked away from the stage the most popular man in Miami and with $1,750 in his pocket. His only disappointment was not breaking the current record of 158 in eight minutes.

Darron Breeden ate 141 for second. Gideon Oji arrived late but not too late and ate 116 for third. Badlands Booker—beloved in the 305—ate 80 for fourth. MLE newcomer and reigning amateur Canadian poutine-eating champion of Canada Darrien Thomas finished fifth and with a case of sunburn. He ate 38. Others ate less but no matter.

Full results below.

FULL RESULTS! 1. Geoffrey Esper 154 2. Darron Breeden 141 3. Gideon Oji 116 (4 Croqueta deduction) 4. Eric Badlands Booker 80 5. Darrien Thomas 38 6. Jia Lee 34 7. Alex Perez 26 8. Victor Aldrich DQ