The Solway College team that cleaned up at the Year 9 and 10 championships: Lilly Stephens, left, Sylvia Lyster, Bianca Mancer, Melissa Burns, Olivia Mancer.`PHOTO/SUPPLIED
BOWLS
CHRIS COGDALE
[email protected]
Solway College has made a clean sweep of the Wellington secondary schools junior championship.
The team of five filled the first three spots in the singles and won the pairs in the mixed competition for Year 9 and 10 students, played at the Johnsonville Bowling Club on Tuesday.
Two-time Wellington schoolgirl champion Olivia Mancer’s experience told as she went through the competition unbeaten to claim the singles.
However, Mancer didn’t have it all her own way in the decisive game and she had to work hard to beat schoolmate Lilly Stephens by one shot.
Sylvia Lester finished third in the competition, in which all bowlers played four games.
The pair of Bianca Mancer [skip] and Melissa Burns had an unbeaten record in their five games.
Coach Ian Monaghan said the girls’ success was the result of a lot of hard work.
“They all played in the Wellington secondary schoolgirl championships in March, and that experience showed. They not only beat girls but also beat boys.”
The result was an outstanding achievement for the college, which introduced bowls to their sports’ programme three years ago.
Monaghan said a lot of the credit must go to Jane Borren [the sports co-ordinator] who pushed for the inclusion of the sport.
About 12 girls are involved and Monaghan said there were some promising talents among them.
