2020 Junior State Championships – Singles Final
Story by Peter Rookas
The final day of the 2020 Bowls Queensland Junior Championships held at North Toowoomba provided plenty of action and excitement, with the Under 15 Boys and Girls semi-finals and finals as well as the Under 18 Boys and Girls semi-finals and finals.
The Under 15 Girls section provided a close finish in an all-Helensvale Hawks match, with Sophie Allan snatching the Gold medal from club-mate Sophie Kiepe 21-19. Impressive youngster Syarra Blain of Victoria Point took the Bronze medal 21 – 10 from Capalaba’s Ella Hilton.
The Under 15 Boys section of the championships drew the most bowlers from around the state & provided plenty of excitement. In an all-Albert club final, Travis Pearce withstood the pressure to prevail 21-19 over Cody Bernard while the Bronze medal saw an impressive Todd Brain from Cunnamulla defeat Oliver Corken of Thuringowa 21-8.
The Under 18 Girls and Boys finals lived up to all the anticipation & hype generated in the earlier matches of the week.
Defending champion Kira Bourke of Tweed, in her final year of Juniors, made it back-to-back Under 18 titles but not before a great struggle with Enoggera’s Olivia Rothwell. Locked together at 15-all, it was Bourke’s steadier play that saw her take the match 21-15. The Bronze medal match saw Zayah Morgan (Capalaba) an impressive 21-13 winner over Chloe Runge of Glasshouse Mountain.Defending champion Kira Bourke of Tweed made it back-to-back Under 18 titles but not before a great struggle with Enoggera’s Olivia Rothwell. Locked together at 15-all, it was Bourke’s steadier play that saw her take the match 21-15. The Bronze medal match saw Zayah Morgan an impressive winner over Chloe Runge 21-13.
The highly awaited Under 18 Boys finals were sublime. With barely a split hair between the four players, Kawana’s Nick Cahill outlasted Enoggera’s Carl Flegler in a close finish and Belmont’s Kane Nelson came from behind to deny the local hope, North Toowoomba’s Jake Rynne. The Gold medal match between Cahill & Nelson was fought out tooth & nail, with Cahill securing the match 21-15 to claim his third Gold medal for the week after capturing Gold in the Fours and Pairs. Nelson played strongly until the final stages when some of the upshots and drives he was executing superbly throughout the week deserted him when it mattered.
To see the full results and draw from today’s finals head to the results page by clicking on the link below:
Or you can relive the action by watching the live streams on BQ’s Facebook page.