2017 Channel Madness Tournament Of Chiefs: Round 2 Results, Round 3 Matchups

And Then There Were 8 ...

Round 2 of the 2017 Channel Madness Tournament Of Chiefs is done. Eight channel chiefs are on to the Enterprise 8, which means eight channel chiefs are going home.

With over 120,000 votes in Round 2, the matchups are now set to determine which four chiefs will represent their respective Channel Madness regions for a shot at the tournament title.

Here's a look at how it all went down and a preview of the Enterprise 8 action. Voting for Round 3 will remain open until Thursday, March 30 at Noon ET.

Cast your votes now!

Infrastructure - Round 2

David Helfer, F5, defeats Wendy Bahr, Cisco

David Helfer is making a solid first impression in the Channel Madness tournament. F5's VP of worldwide channels has posted two impressive wins - a Round 1 victory over APC's Shannon Sbar and now his 82 percent to 18 percent dismantling of Cisco's Wendy Bahr in the Solutions 16. The win marks the largest margin of victory of any Round 2 matchup.

He'll draw a channel chief from HPE in a Round 3 Infrastructure region matchup. Which one, you ask? Turn the page to find out.

Infrastructure - Round 2

Terry Richardson, HPE, defeats Scott Dunsire, HPE

Scott Dunsire (right) oversees Hewlett Packard Enterprise's entire channel effort. Under that umbrella is Terry Richardson, who oversees all of HPE's partners across the U.S.

Things might have been a little awkward around the water cooler at HPE as two chiefs from the same company squared off for the first time in Channel Madness history.

Richardson, vice president of U.S. channel sales, pulled away early against Dunsire, Americas channel VP, and never looked back.

When all was said and done, Richardson locked up a 75 percent to 25 percent victory and the chance to represent his company in the Enterprise 8.

Hardware - Round 2

John Byrne, Dell EMC, defeats Bill Lipsin, NetApp

Things got a little less lopsided over in the Hardware portion of the bracket, where NetApp's Bill Lipsin (left) and Dell EMC's John Byrne traded blows until the buzzer. Ultimately, it was Byrne coming out on top with a 52 percent to 48 percent win.

It's the first appearance in the Channel Madness tournament for Dell EMC's global channel chief. Backed by 17 years of experience in the channel, Byrne is on to Round 3.

Hardware - Round 2

Sammy Kinlaw, Lenovo, defeats Stephanie Dismore, HP

Apparently Sammy Kinlaw wasn't feeling the same flare for the dramatic, as he built on a strong start over HP's Stephanie Dismore to finish with a dominating 79 percent to 21 percent victory. Lenovo's channel chief is putting up some impressive numbers in his second tournament appearance.

The win over Dismore marks the second largest margin of victory in Round 2. In Round 1, Kinlaw tied for the largest with his victory over Aruba's Donna Grothjan.

It's a Lenovo-versus-Dell EMC battle for supremacy in the Hardware region.

Cloud - Round 2

Eric Martorano, Intermedia, defeats Brooks McCorcle, AT&T

AT&T's Brooks McCorcle appeared to be primed for another big run in the Channel Madness Tournament Of Chiefs, but she ran into a roadblock in Intermedia's Eric Martorano. McCorcle pulled ahead early in this Round 2 Cloud contest, but it wasn't nearly enough as Martorano turned up the heat in a major way, finishing the round with a 71 percent to 29 percent win.

Martorano is a newcomer to the tournament but has plenty of experience in the indirect tech sales channel, with over 20 years of service. His vote total in the Solutions 16 was the second highest in the round, topped only by his Round 3 opponent, Janet Schijns of Verizon.

Cloud - Round 2

Janet Schijns, Verizon, defeats Frank Rauch, VMware

Janet Schijns is making quite the splash in her first Channel Madness tournament. Posting the highest vote total of Round 3, Verizon's Schijns overcame an earlier deficit in the contest for a big 77 percent to 23 percent win over VMware's Frank Rauch.

Despite the lopsided score, Rauch has proven to be a tough out in his three Channel Madness tournament appearances.

Schijns appears ready to make another big tournament run for Verizon. Her predecessor, Adam Famularo, made it to the championship in the inaugural Channel Madness tournament.

Software - Round 2

Gavriella Schuster, Microsoft, defeats Bill Swales, Oracle

It was a tight battle in the quest for Software supremacy, but ultimately Microsoft's Gavriella Schuster is moving on to the Enterprise 8. Oracle's Bill Swales regained his footing after falling behind Schuster early, but just couldn't get a big enough rally going, losing 55 percent to 45 percent.

Schuster is a seasoned Microsoft channel veteran who took over as VP of its massive worldwide partner group last summer. She'll look to the keep ball rolling in Round 3 of her impressive Channel Madness run.

Software - Round 2

Kendra Krause, Sophos, defeats Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh, Salesforce

Kendra Krause (pictured, right) is building upon the Sophos Channel Madness legacy. Her 62 percent to 38 percent Round 2 win over Salesforce's Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh marks the eighth time a chief at the security vendor has won a Channel Madness matchup - Krause's colleague, Mike Valentine, won the tournament in 2015 and made it to the Field of Four last year.

Now it's Krause's turn for a deep run and she is impressing early with big wins over Taychakhoonavudh and Splunk's Brooke Cunningham.

The Enterprise 8

So here we sit, down to eight chiefs competing for a shot at channel glory in Round 3 of the 2017 Channel Madness Tournament. Voting for Round 3 is now open and closes Thursday, March 30, at Noon ET.

Before you cast your votes, get some insight into the Enterprise 8 matchups here.