Teams battled it out in a benefit horseshoe and cornhole tournament at Escalon’s Hogan Park on Saturday, as the ninth annual Grant Altamirano Memorial Tournament and BBQ was hosted.

The tournament is staged each year to benefit the college trust funds for Grant’s children, 14-year-old Aiden and 12-year-old Zoe.

“It’s basically family and friends and some new teams that came out this year, they saw our banner and came out to participate,” explained Brady Altamirano, one of the organizers of the event.

The banner was posted on the fence at the Community Center along Escalon-Bellota Road and helped to advertise the annual tournament.

Along with the horseshoe tournament, teams participating also got to play a cornhole tournament. There were cash prizes for the horseshoe tournament winners while the cornhole winners got to take home a set of handcrafted cornhole boards, made by local resident Andy Gasper.

“It’s a double elimination tournament,” Brady Altamirano added. “We had 18 teams.”

The tournament is a blind draw style and the day also included food and beverages in addition to the wrap up barbecue.

Registration began at 8 a.m. with the competition starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Top three horseshoe teams earned cash prizes and were: first place, Brady Altamirano and Andy Gasper, $300; second place Onan Rice and Byrum Rice, $250; and, third place, Matt Anderson and Dave Anderson, $200.

Taking top honors in the cornhole tournament was the team of Nick Noe and Clay Evans.

“The day went great,” noted co-organizer Jeremy Johnson. “The weather was perfect, except for the smoke, and we’re already looking forward to next year.”

Brady Altamirano added that the family is always blessed by the support the tournament receives.

“We couldn’t do it without all our good friends,” he said.