Under 18 championships well represented Under 18s Championships

An enthusiastic group of players, parents and volunteers attended the Under 18 State Championships at the Cockburn Bowling Club. Twenty Metropolitan and Country clubs were represented, which is a healthy increase on the past few years.

The Triples competition started the week with seven teams taking part, broken up into a section of four teams and a section of three teams. In section 1, two undefeated teams came together in the last sectional round to determine the section winner.

After a close tussle, Callum Alberti (South Perth), Zac Parker (Club Merredin) and Toby Delacy (Club Merredin) defeated Joshua Ellis (Pemberton), Charlotte Byfield (Manning) and Sophie Hays (Joondalup) to go through to the final.

Section 2 also saw two undefeated teams fight it out in the last sectional round with Tyler Way (Armadale), Michael Passeretto (Willetton) and Jack Headland (Cockburn) defeating Eden Manifis (Osborne Park), Dante Burnham (Harvey) and Matthew Larkman (Waroona).

The final saw many good bowls being played by all players, but the Alberti, Parker and Delacy combination were too strong, taking the Under 18 State Triples title.

The Pairs event had 10 teams competing and it was decided to play a round robin of 3 rounds when the top four teams would go on to play in the Semi Finals and Final to determine the winner. At the end of the three rounds, we had two undefeated teams, Alberti and Burnham, along with Parker and Delacy.

To complete the final four, Ellis and Hays and Manifis and Kian Mayne (Joondalup) finished with two wins and one loss a piece. The two semi finals saw two cliffhangers, Alberti and Burnham defeated Manifis and Mayne 8-7 and Parker and Delacy defeated Ellis and Hays 7-6.

In the final Alberti and Burnham took control early and ran out comfortable winners over Parker and Delacy to claim the Under 18 State Pairs Championship.

The final event was the 18 State Singles competition with both a boys and a girls competition being run.

The girls event saw four girls line up in a round robin format with the top of the table at the end taking the title. After three close rounds, three girls had two wins and one loss and had to be separated by shots up.

Coming out on top was Byfield (Manning) to be crowned the girls Under 18 State Singles Champion with Hays (Joondalup) runner up and Maylands' Drew Gunson a close up third

The boys event saw 16 boys take part, broken up into five sections. At the end of sectional play the five winners through to the knockout games were Mason Gunson (Maylands), Alberti (South Perth), Manifis (Osborne Park), Ellis (Pemberton) and Burnham (Harvey). The alignment round to bring us to the semi final stage saw Burnham defeat Ellis in a close-run game.

The Semi Finals saw Manifis get over the top of Burnham in one semifinal, while Alberti had to fight hard in his win over Gunson and the second semifinal.

The final was played in front of a healthy gathering of parents and volunteers, all being very thankful for the roof at the Cockburn Bowling Club with the rain tumbling down. It ended with a clean sweep of titles for Alberti as he took the Under 18 Boys Singles Crown for the second straight year.