Maroons domination
60 medallist have been awarded at the Australian Under-18 Championships after another sensational junior event; however it was Queensland that featured most prominently on the dias. The Australian Under-18 Championships has come to a stunning conclusion at Tuggeranong Vikings Lawn Bowls Club with the countrys elite junior bowlers capping off a fantastic event with more high quality and high energy finals this afternoon.
Queensland will leave Canberra with the girls, boys and overall trophies in what was a dominating and consistent performance from all 10 of their players across week; however 60 medals have been handed out at these championships and six State and Territories shared the honours.
NSW’s’ Jono Davis has continued his hot streak of form collecting another prestigious gold medal this year to go with the two he bagged at the recent Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa.
In the boys singles Davis was too good for Queenslander Dale WcWhinney-Shillington who entered the match off the back of a strong performance that won him bronze in the boys pairs; Davis never dropped more than two shots on any end in the match and after getting out to a 12-6 lead, Davis kept his nose in front for the rest of the match winning the final 21-15.
The Northern Territory was contesting their only gold medal match in the girls pairs but unfortunately history couldn’t be created today with the strong NSW outfit of Madeline Goncalves and Molly Wilton defeating Kerri-Ann Zavazal and Shae Smith 24-12.
The victory in the pairs was the only gold for the NSW girls at these championships; however their triples combination of Cindy McGrath, Kate Matthews and Kate Davis claimed bronze against Western Australia 21-15 this afternoon.
Queensland girls continued their dominance on the competition notching up another gold medal in the girls triples to accompany their gold in the singles and fours from this morning.
With two ends to play Queensland was trailing by one but a full count of six on the second last end put them in a commanding position; Victoria picked up two on the last end but it wasn’t enough to chase down the maroons in yet another finals victory.
Victoria was able to claim revenge in the girls pairs with Mikayla Long and Tayla Morison defeating Sophie Young and Tiffany Murray 18-7 in the bronze medal match.
In the boys fours Queensland dropped the last three ends of the match to NSW however the lead they had established in the middle stages of the match was enough to keep the maroons in front; Mitchell Mears, Hayden Vogler and Jacob Nelson picked up their second gold medal these championships whilst Nic Gosley added to his bronze from the boys pairs.
Northern Territory had another crack for a medal this event however the Victorian boys fours combination of Todd Trewarne, Jordan Yates, Curtis Hanley and Joshua Corless had a different idea claiming the second bronze medal for the Victorian boys this Australian Under-18 Championships.
Victoria’s Jayden Christie was victorious over Tasmania’s Mitchell Banks 21-10 in their bronze medal play-off in the boys singles.
Girls overall- Queensland
Boys overall- Queensland
Robert Middleton overall state champion team- Queensland
To view the full results and ladders visit the Australian Under-18 page on the Bowls Australia website.
