MAIDEN SINGLES CROWNS FOR COTTRELL AND MCWHINNEY – Singles State Championships

by jgrey on May 22, 2022

A fitting conclusion to the 2022 State Championships with two new singles champions emerging after three long days of play.

The weather tried to put a dampener on the event, but the players were just pleased to be out of the rain and post-sectional play was relocated to the Paradise Point Bowls Club.

71 games were played on Saturday between 8:15am and 10:30pm to get the men down to the last 16 and the women down to the semis; a monumental effort by the players, volunteers and live streaming staff after all grass greens on the Gold Coast were closed.

The Burleigh Heads Bowls Club will be rocking after their star players Dean WcWhinney and Gary Pearson contested a memorable State Singles Final.

McWhinney is always round the mark when the State Championships loom each year but 2022 will be one to remember, winning gold in front of family and friends after eight gruelling matches.

Dean McWhinney took out Aron Sherriff in the semi-final in a 25-24 thriller; whilst in a contrasting semi, Gary Pearson got out to a big lead and maintained it against an in-form Cohen Liftin.

It was hard to separate the Burleigh club mates in the early stages of the final; it was just going to take someone to string a couple of good ends in a row to break away on the scoreboard.

It was looking like Pearson was edging his way to gold, but McWhinney held his nerve and despite being down 21-23 he played two brilliant ends to score multiple twos and snatch victory back from his good mate.

The women’s singles final had taken place earlier in the day between a current Jackaroo and an emerging Jackaroo star.

Kelsey Cottrell and Jessie Cottell put on a masterclass in their final encounter, trading blow after blow with nothing separating the pair on the draw.

Victory could have gone either way with Cottrell and Cottell sharing the lead at various stages of the match.

A big conversion by Cottrell to take her to 22, followed by two ends of beating Cottell to the jack with their opening bowls gave Cottrell that slight edge needed to get her over the line.

In the playoff for bronze, it was Marilyn Emerton from Kawana Waters who clawed her way back against Vicki Cameron from North Ipswich.

Emerton adds her bronze to the gold she won in the pairs earlier in the week.

In the men’s playoff, Aron Sherriff defeated Cohen Liftin 25-16, also adding to his gold medal from the triples.