What a massive weekend at the Whanganui Squash club with 120 players and their families packed into the club for the 3 day event. Players from all over NZ came to compete in the second biggest Junior event on the New Zealand calendar.
The standard of play and sportsmanship was outstanding throughout the weekend and there was some fantastic squash on display with competitors aged 9 - 19 years old. As predicted the Under 17 boys event was hotly contested and the two locals Brodie Bennett and Maximus Mathews met up in the Semi final with a predicted epic battle the boys didn't disappoint giving the large crowd a huge five setter going long in the fifth. Bennett proved to have the better endurance on the day however and took the win over an exhausted Mathews claiming his spot in the final against the Wellington talent of Oliver Dunbar. Bennett played extremely well against the much higher graded Dunbar and managed to claim one game losing in a tight four.
One of the surprise upsets was Squash Eastern Junior Keira Thompson who was third seed in the under 19 girls division taking out top seed Emma Merson from Bay of Plenty who was the favourite based on her much higher ranking. Thompson went on to comfortably beat Centrals Grace Burnard in 4 to take the under 19 girls title. Thompson recently won the Central Open hosted in Dannevirke last month and is a rising star for sure and one to watch. Squash Central had one player to take a title and that was young Alexia Laws who took out the Under 11 girls. Alexia is from a Squash family who all play out of the Dannevirke Squash Club and her brother Jake took second in the Under 13 boys and her sister Elizabeth competed in the Under 19 girls. Congratulations Alexia. Full results were:
Winner – Noah Thomas
Runner Up – Connor Hill
Classic Plate - Jack OliverSpecial Plate – Jonty Collier
Plate – Zachary WightConsolation Plate – Sam GreenWinner – Kiera ThompsonRunner Up – Emma MersonSpecial Plate – Ruby HintonPlate – Heather BowdenWinner – Oliver DunbarRunner Up – Brodie BennettThird Place - Maximus MathewsClassic Plate - Riley NoonanSpecial Plate – Josh LaingSeventh - Henry GriffithsPlate – Samuel O'BrienConsolation Plate – Tanish NaidooWinner – Ella HillRunner Up – Mackenzie TaitClassic Plate - Erin WyllieSpecial Plate – Isla SweeneyPlate – Anna StokesConsolation Plate – Lane BartlettWinner – Vihan ChathuryRunner Up – Fergus HillClassic Plate - Ciaran ManningSpecial Plate – Max BaileyPlate – Olly CollierConsolation Plate – Riley KingWinner – Brooke ValoisRunner Up – Zara HintonSpecial Plate – Agatha GriffithsPlate – Charlotte BowdenConsolation Plate – Kendall YoungWinner – Benji JeffriesRunner Up – Jake LawsClassic Plate - Darius MathewsSpecial Plate – Caleb AlexanderPlate – Finlay JangConsolation Plate – Braxton PriestWinner – Liberty JonesRunner Up – Sabine VeitchSpecial Plate – Yusra RashidPlate – Charlie StubbingConsolation Plate – Melanie YoungWinner – Flynn WatkinsRunner Up – Jeremy McAllisterSpecial Plate – Angus DrummondPlate – Sid RoyConsolation Plate – Romeo MichalakisWinner – Alexia LawsRunner Up – Olivia Michalakis
