The defending champion Kaleb Johnston aged 18 heads the field of 20 young indoor bowlers who have won their way through to play in the national final of the 42nd New Zealand Indoor Bowls Junior Singles competition on Saturday, August 31st at the North Wellington Indoor Bowls Association Hall, Onepoto Domain, Titahi Bay, North Wellington commencing at 10.00am.
Johnston (18) has had an excellent season winning the Cliff Thompson Trophy for the best junior in the Open Singles at the Summerset National Championships. He won the Silver medal at last year’s Secondary School Singles and was selected for the South Island Academy team this year. He has been a Southern Zone Junior representative in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Also entered are last year’s runner-up Anthony Ouellet, Tauranga and one of the third place getters Jordan Keene from Hutt Valley.
Johnston, Ouellet and Keene along with Nathan Trowell, Poverty Bay played for their respective districts in the recent Paterson Trophy zone finals. Ouellet and Keene now go forward in the successful Tauranga and Hutt Valley teams to play in the Welch Trophy final.
Ouellet (18) won the Auckland Invitation Masters Junior Singles last year and a NZ Secondary Schools Pairs Silver Medal in 2015 and a Singles Bronze Medal in 2016. He was a Northern Zone junior representative in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Keene (15) was third equal in the junior’s singles in 2017 and 2018 and was a Southern Zone representative in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
Trowell (15) won the 1-5 year development pairs for the North Island Eastern Zone and has had a very successful season for Poverty Bay and in Open Tournaments. He recently finished runner-up in the North Island Secondary School Singles and third equal in the NI Secondary School pairs.
Dylan Greyvenstein (18) Bay of Plenty won the North Island Secondary Schools Gold Medal in the singles last year and the silver medal in the pairs.
Nicole Bennett (18) North Taranaki was third equal in the Junior Singles in 2017 and won the Bronze medal in the Secondary School Pairs that year and was a Northern Zone junior representative.
The youngest player in the field is 14 year old Jenelle Ryan from North Wellington.
A plate event will be held for the non-qualifiers in the main championship and the winner receives the Morrison Plate.
To qualify for the championships players must be under the age of 18 years of age on 1st March 2019 and have won their district junior singles competition. 20 of the 35 districts have entered.
The competitors are: Niall Vincer, 15, (Auckland), Dylan Greyvenstein, 18, (Bay of Plenty), Nikita Blair, 15, (Canterbury), Brayden Riggs, 16, (Counties) Jonathan Marshall, 16, (Golden Bay-Motueka), Tracey Ludeman, 18, (Hawke’s Bay), Racharn Murphy-Eagle, 16, (Horowhenua), Jordan Keene, 15, (Hutt Valley), Bradyn Popow, 16, (Manawatu), Kaleb Johnston, 18, (Nelson), Nicole Bennett, 18, (North Taranaki), Jenelle Ryan, 14, (North Wellington), Nathan Trowell, 15, (Poverty Bay), Dylan Blissett, 15, (South Canterbury), Lilly Paterson, 17, (South Otago), Tiffany Wilson, 17, (Southland), Sam Landers, 17, (Taranaki), Anthony Ouellet, 17, (Tauranga), Presley Williams, 16, (Upper Hutt Valley), Jordan Crosby, 16, (Waikato).
Northern versus Southern Zones
At the conclusion of the singles tournament the Northern and Southern Zone junior teams will be named.
They will compete in the Northern versus Southern Zone competition for the McLachlan Junior Challenge Trophy that was won by the Northern Zone last year.
