The Nationals: Day 1 wrap
Australian Under-18 Championships
The Under-18 girl’s singles was a hotly contested affair, with 15-year-old Reese Finn-Young putting on a stunning display to take the title.
She began the day with an upset 21-20 win over eventual bronze medallist Kate Argent-Bowden before another close victory over Emilee Davies to make the final, before displaying serious skill to defeat Victoria’s Amity Bickley in the final.
The other girl’s event was the fours, which saw Queensland’s Sophie Kiepe, Dekota Brindle, Corinne Stallan and Stella Palmer take out the gold medal with South Australia in second and Victoria in third.
In the boy’s pairs it was Victoria’s Will Mays and Koby Cromie who took home gold with their win over the New South Wales duo of Lachlan Thompson and Joseph Clarke, with Oliver Corken and Kane Nelson claiming bronze for Queensland.
Finally, the boy’s triples was won by the Composite Team consisting of Queenslanders Corey Marshall, Sam Collier and Wayatt Martin.
The trio defeated Tasmania in the gold medal match, with Queensland taking home bronze.
Australian Champion of Champions
Both Men’s and Women’s Champion of Champions events are set for grandstand finishes after an intriguing first four rounds of play at Broadbeach.
NSW’s Jono Davis made his mark early in the competition, with two strong wins before a 19-21 defeat at the hands of Victorian Jordan Yates.
He would close out the evening with a closely fought 21-18 victory over Cohen Litfin to head into the second day ahead of the pack, with Tasmania’s Mark Nitz sitting in second on shot difference.
Only one win separates the top six competitors, with Western Australia’s Matt Mitchell, South Australia’s Nathan Pedersen, Litfin and 2020 champion Trystan Smallacombe all only a win off the pace with the ACT’s Peter Watts and Yates rounding out the competitors.
In the women’s event, bowls legend Karen Murphy topped the leaderboard with an unblemished day, recording three dominant wins in her three outings.
Joining her on top of the table is South Australian Laini McGorman, who also went three from three.
Her perfect record looked at risk in her third match against Western Australia’s Kathleen Gobbart, trailing by as much as seven shots at one point before mounting an impressive comeback.
Murphy and McGorman go head-to-head first thing on Saturday morning, in a match that is likely to decide the title.
Gobbart sits in the bronze medal position currently, with former Right at Home Jackaroo Julie Keegan accompanying her with two victories.
The Northern Territory’s Siobhan Tootell and Tasmanian Lynette Triffitt round out the leaderboard.
Australian Multi-Disability Championships
The first of six days of multi-disability competition got under way at Mermaid Beach on Friday, with open triples sectional play taking place.
Four teams exited the sectional stage with unblemished records ahead of knockout rounds on Saturday.
The five section winning sides as well as three next-best qualifiers advance to the quarter finals at 8.45am, followed by semi finals then gold and bronze playoff games from 3pm.
