Hogan breaks ACT drought at National Championships
Jessica Hogan has won gold in the 2016 Australian Under-18 Championships breaking the drought for the Nations Capital; whilst NSW dominated the medal tally. The Australian Under-18 Championships concluded at Holdfast Bay with New South Wales taking home the overall state honours, gold going the way of defending champions and departing junior stars, every state featuring in the medals and the announcement of the Australian Junior Jackaroos, all before the rain hit Adelaide once more.
It’s been a long wait for the Australian Capital Territory to strike gold at the Australian Under-18 Championships but that day finally came when Jessica Hogan defeated Louise Cronan (NSW) in the coveted girl’s singles.
It was Hogan’s last under-18 national event and what a memorable end to her junior career claiming the girls singles final 21-18 and her first Australian Under-18 Championship medal in a quality encounter with a rising NSW star.
ACT wasn’t the only territory enjoying a good championship; the Northern Territory will leave Adelaide with two bronze medals courtesy of their girl’s pairs and triples combinations getting over the line in close encounters with ACT and QLD.
Kellie Ainsworth, Lauren Kingsley and Alyssia Brown were too good in the end for Queenslanders Julia Allen-Best, Shervawn Wilson and Jessica Srisamruaybai in the triples playoff whilst on the neighbouring green Kerri-Ann Zavazal and Georgia Cant were victorious by one shot, made possible with Cant’s superb final bowl to defeat ACT’s Chloe Koziol and Jessica Hogan.
Impressively the NT, with the help of two players from WA who combined in this year’s field, finished second in the girls overall standings.
The game which had the local crowd on the edge of their seats was the boy’s fours final between South Australia and Western Australia and the eight players didn’t disappoint with yet another medal playoff coming down to the final bowl.
South Australia had trailed for most of the match but after a couple of great ends toward the back end of the game, the reds were in striking distance going into the last end, and by this stage the crowd had gathered in their numbers to cheer them home.
Needing three for victory South Australia had delivered with a certain two and measure for three; however the only problem was Western Australian skip Patrick Quinlan still had a bowl left.
It was a thrilling conclusion to a great match when Quinlan drew the shot, the Western Australian team of Corey Day, Jack Campbell, Ben Leggett and Patrick Quinlan could hardly believe their accomplishment and rightly so the boy’s from the west couldn’t wipe the smiles off their face.
NSW sensation Jono Davis has won back-to-back Australian Under-18 Singles titles, but at one stage his title defence was looking gloomy when midway through his encounter with Victorian Curtis Hanley it appeared the Australian Indoor Championship runner-up was going to add a national junior title to his resume.
Trailing 9-15 and down two at the head, Davis’ comeback came at an unlucky time; however a big conversion was all that was needed to get the Commonwealth Youth Games dual gold medallist on a roll and onto the middle of the podium for a second time at these championships.
Earlier in the day, Davis had teamed up with Luke Grainger to bag NSW their first gold of the event in the boy’s pairs, defeating Victorian combination of Jarryd Davies and Curtis Hanley.
In the boy’s triples, Queenslander’s Mitchell Mears, Dale McWhinney-Shillington and Jacob Nelson went one better than their silver medal from 2015, snaring gold with a 19-6 win over Tasmania’s Issac Maughan, Josh Appleyard and Julian Brown.
New South Wales dominated the medal tally with three gold (boys singles, boy’s pairs and girl’s fours), two silver (girls singles, girls pairs) and two bronze (boys triples and boys fours) as well as the overall girls trophy, overall boys trophy and the best performed state of the championships.
The girl’s fours team of Brianna Smith, Lauren Gardner, Briana Graham and Kate Mathews were flawless in the gold medal match, defeating Queensland 19-7.
Victoria picked up silver for overall state after collecting their own swag of medals; gold in the girls triples and pairs and silver in the boys singles and pairs.
The whole Victorian girls team of Mikayla Long, Kira Bourke, Tayla Morison, Amelia Bruggy and Natasha Russell left Adelaide with a gold medal around their necks; the perfect swan song for Morison after six years in the junior ranks.
Bowls Australia would like to acknowledge the assistance and funding provided by the Australian Commonwealth Games Association to Bowls Australia for athletes in the 2016 NextGEN AUSComGames Squad program.
NextGEN AUSComGames was devised by the ACGA to provide assistance to junior players who have been identified as potential 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, and/or 2018 or 2022 Commonwealth Games level athletes.
Medal winners from the Australian Under-18 Championships
Girls Singles-
Gold- Jessica Hogan (ACT)
Silver- Louise Cronan (NSW)
Bronze- Jessie Cottell (QLD)
Girls Pairs-
Gold-Kirra Bourke & Tayla Morison (VIC)
Silver-Brianna Smith & Louise Cronan (NSW)
Bronze- Kerri-Ann Zavazal & Georgia Cant (NT/WA)
Girls Triples-
Gold-Amelia Bruggy, Mikayla Long & Natasha Russell (VIC)
Silver-Logyn Curtis, Alanna Kalbfell & Ebony White (TAS)
Bronze- Kellie Ainsworth, Lauren Kingsley & Alyssia Brown (NT/WA)
Girls Fours-
Gold- Brianna Smith, Lauren Gardner, Briana Graham & Kate Matthews (NSW)
Silver- Julia Allen-Best, Rebecca Rixon, Shervawn Wilson & Jessica Srisamruaybai (QLD)
Bronze- Grace Maloney, Katie Roachock, Amber Walker & Bailey Rafferty (SA)
Boys Singles-
Gold- Jono Davis (NSW)
Silver- Curtis Hanley (VIC)
Bronze- Jacob Nelson (QLD)
Boys Pairs-
Gold- Luke Grainger & Jono Davis
Silver- Jarryd Davies & Curtis Hanley (VIC)
Bronze- Joshua Studham & Tyson Wilson (SA)
Boys Triples-
Gold-Mitchell Mears, Dale WcWhinney-Shillington & Jacob Nelson (QLD)
Silver-Issac Maughan, Josh Appleyard & Julian Brown (TAS)
Bronze-Toby Peters, Jayden Gebbie & Jarrod Beckford (NSW)
Boys Fours-
Gold-Corey Day, Jack Campbell, Ben Leggett & Patrick Quinlan (WA)
Silver-Preston Kaufer, Tristan Griffith, Tyson Wilson & James Bodnar (SA)
Bronze-Toby Peters, Luke Grainger, Jayden Gebbie & Jarrod Beckford (NSW)
Caption- Louise Cronan (left), Jessica Hogan (middle), Jessie Cottell (right), girls singles medal winners at the Australian Under-18 Championships.
