Young guns compete at Stirling
Under 18’s Championships wrap The Under 18 State Championships were held this weekend under the roof of the new Stirling indoor green.
Twenty juniors from all across the state competed across triples, pairs and singles over the course of the weekend, with more than half competing in their first junior championships.
The first event to be completed was the pairs which with the final played early Saturday afternoon.
Patrick Quinlan (Osborne Park) and Cory Day (Carnarvon) were seeking their second pairs together having won in 2016. They came up against Ashton Hagboom (Goomalling) and Aiden McAuliffe (Mullewa) who defeated defending champions Kaleb Walding (Dampier) and Jack East (Rossmoyne) 10-7 in the semi-final. It was Quinlan and Day who had the better game in the final, winning their second title together 16-7.
The pairs also had a plate competition for those knocked out in the opening game. It was won by brothers Aiden and Calin Sear (Dampier) 15-1 over Matthew Park (Quinns Rocks) and Kieran Conway (Pemberton).
The triples saw Quinlan and Day in another final joined by Rockingham’s Marcus Simpson, looking to defend the title they won last year.
They faced newcomers Aiden and Calin Sear and Kieran Conway. Quinlan, Simpson and Day dominated the game as they went back to back, winning the final 24-3 against their less experienced opponents.
In the singles Quinlan was in the final once again, his third for the weekend and his fourth singles final in succession. His opponent was 2017 Pairs winner Jack East, who was in strong form with a number of wins. Quinlan was looking for his first singles since 2015, having been defeated in the last two finals.
East, playing in his first singles final was soon down 5-0 as Quinlan started brilliantly in the opening ends. However he kept his cool and stuck with his draw shot to close the gap and slowly take control. He played a series of brilliant ends where he rarely had a bowl further than two feet away as Quinlan resorted to drives without a lot of success as the lead moved to 16-8 in favour of East. Quinlan then hit some good form himself winning three ends to close the gap to 16-12 before East replied with a three to re-establish his good lead. East kept his composure with some great bowls played by both players before eventually closing it out with a lovely draw shot to take the title.
East won 21-15 in the last of an impressive string of wins in the knockout rounds. As well as Quinlan he knocked out defending champion Walding as well as Simpson, two of the other major favourites.
From this event the Under 18’s state squad will shortly be announced and later the side will be picked to represent Western Australia in Queensland in October.
Full results of the Under 18 Championships
View the Live streaming of the Final on Bowls WA Facebook Page
