Kendall Hodson completed a clean sweep to win all of his matches at the Tasman Secondary Schools Bowls Championship, and book a place at the zone 5 regional playoffs.
The Nayland College student was crowned boys’ single champion at the Stoke Bowling Club on Thursday with Connor Reilly and Max Nalder making up the rest of the top three.
The annual event is hosted by Bowls Nelson and Sport Tasman is part of the Tasman Secondary School Sports Council calendar of events.
Waimea College, Nelson College, Garin College, Motueka High School and Nayland College were all represented at the competition which consisted of pairs and singles games. There was some tight competition as players vied for a spot at the regional playoff in Greymouth on March 25, where they will compete against qualifiers from Marlborough and Canterbury, West Coast and Buller centres.
In the boys’ pairs, William Ford and Danny Ross won all their games to secure a spot at the regional playoffs with Nelson College’s Kenneth Tyree and Ben Tunnicliff in second. Samuel Devese and Seth Watson from Waimea College placed third.
In the girls’ pairs, each of the three teams won and lost a round in the round robin format with Kayla Cook and Emma Ching of Nayland College coming out on top just four points ahead of fellow schoolmates Meg Parfitt and Laura Beleski. Waimea’s Alissa Smail and Melody Phipps placed third just another four points under the second placed team. Eilish Reilly from Nayland automatically qualifies for the zone 5 finals in the girls’ singles as the only competitor entered.
The Marie Watson trophies for top male and female personalities were awarded to Andre Castaing and Meg Parfitt from Nayland College. Marie Watson was rewarded a personality trophy to her in Hong Kong at the Pacific Games and thought it was a good idea to sponsor these awards to recognize positive attitude, fair play and good team spirit rather than just having awards for the winners. Bowls Nelson development officer Val Smith hoped the event would ensure a strong link between clubs and schools so the pathway into the sport is maintained.
