Under 18’s Championships Wrap
The Under 18 State Championships wrapped up yesterday at Bassendean Bowling Club. Fourteen participants from across WA were involved with plenty of great matches and terrific bowls played in three disciplines of Singles, pairs and Triples.
The Singles event was played first on Tuesday in mostly overcast conditions. The five sectional winners were Emma Smith (York), Jack East (Rossmoyne), Patrick Quinlan (Osborne Park), Alex Wasley (Dandaragan) and Marcus Simpson (Bassendean).
In an alignment round Simpson made good use of his home ground advantage to progress to the semi-finals with a comfortable defeat of Wasley. He then had to face past winner Patrick Quinlan. The match was a beauty early as both players traded scores before Quinlan won some key ends in the middle stages of the contest to race to a 19-10. The last few ends were played in drizzling rain before Quinlan finally ran out a winner 21-13. Likewise the other semi-final was a real nip and tuck affair. York’s Emma Smith had a strong band of supporters cheering her every shot and she looked like upsetting last years winner Jack East as she continued to draw superbly to hold a narrow lead 10-8. At this point Emma unfortunately lost some momentum as Jack played a couple of very good ends were he picked up consecutive maximum scores of four shots. Emma tried valiantly to get back into the match but Jack secured the victory 21-12.
The final was a repeat of last year albeit with Jack East looking to defend his title against Patrick Quinlan. Both players were exceptional and consistently drawing bowls with a foot or so. In a high quality final it looked like Patrick was on track to win his second Under 18 Singles title when he led the match 14-9. Jack managed to win another end and made a clever tactical move by lengthening the jack away from the short ends that Patrick had been playing. It worked well as he picked scores of 1, 3 and 1 to once again level the match.
The players continued to trade shots for the next few ends as impending dark clouds began closing in. With Jack leading 17-15 it was Patrick’s turn to win consecutive ends and when he picked up a multiple he was within a shot of winning the championship at 20-17. At this point the rain began to come down and Jack managed to handle the changing conditions just a little better. He picked up three shots to once again level the scores at 20 all. By this time the rain was absolutely pelting down and both players were given the option to stop play. However, credit to them they wanted to play it out. Jack’s first bowl was a beauty as he drew within a foot of the jack and with the green slowing rapidly Patrick was forced into playing weight to try and remove it or trail jack. His last attempt was his best but he just missed it and Jack East was once again crowned the champion.
Bowls WA Live Stream of the Final can be viewed via the Bowls WA Facebook Page
Jack joins two outstanding bowlers David Opie and Daniel Trewhella as the only back to back winners of this event.
On the Wednesday players returned to compete in Pairs and Triples under much better conditions.
The Pairs was played in two sections under a 3 x 3 format. The sectional winners Segan Pasalich (Stirling) with Mitchell Corps (Swan) playing Jack East and Aiden McAuliffe (Mullewa) in the final.
Pasalich and Corps started the ten end final the better picking up a two and a single to lead early 3-0 however from that point on East and McAuliffe worked their way towards the title. The crucial end coming just three from the finish with East/McAuliffe leading 6-4 they picked up a big four shots. Pasalich and Corps played a great end to keep themselves in the game picking up a two however the four shots needed on the last end was always going to be a tough ask. In the end East and McAuliffe picked up a single shot to win the match 11-6.
This was the second pairs win for East and the first under 18’s title of any kind for the impressive McAuliffe who looks to have a good future in the sport.
The final event was the two bowl triples. With just the four teams engaged it was played purely as sectional play. As it happened the third round turned into a final between the triple of Jack East, Emma Smith and Aiden McAuliffe up against Patrick Quinlan, Marcus Simpson and Cory Day (Carnarvon) as whoever won the match would take the title.
Quinlan’s team were the defending champions in this event. They started the final in great fashion winning the first three ends including a four which took them to a 7-0 lead. East’s side was able to pick up a three to get on the board however another four to Quinlan took his side to a commanding 12-4 lead. East’s side continued to try their best and won the next three ends meaning they needed a four to level the scores going into the last end. However Quinlan’s team held their nerve and the shot to take the title 13-8.
A remarkable effort from these three lads to win the triples for the third straight year.
Other participants in this event were Ruby Leggett (Joondalup), Shae Barter (Quinns Rocks), Noah Groves (Joondalup), Utah John-Furnace (Dandaragan) and Tom Brooks (Dandaragan).
Bowls WA would like to congratulate all the players for their efforts and tremendous sportsmanship during this event and thank the various parents, club volunteers and host club helpers who supported the Under 18 State Championships.
With the exception of Emma Smith who turns 18 in the coming months all other players will now practise together under the tutelage of Under 18 State Coach Ken Perks as they prepare for selection in the Under 18 State National Championships at Bendigo in October 2019.
