Gisborne students were among the medal winners at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Indoor Bowls Championships in Hamilton.
A strong field of 40 bowlers competed in the singles event.
After the four preliminary rounds, Adam Rickard (Lytton High School) was the only Gisborne student to qualify for the knockoutrounds, although several others were not far off.
Adam finished third-equal, going down 14-9 in his semifinal to eventual winner Matthew Spargo (Tauranga Boys’ High School) after they were level pegging for most of the game.
Jaykwan Casey and Sean Haskins, both from Gisborne Boys’ High, battled it out in the final of the consolation plate - Sean winning 15-10.
Three Gisborne teams made it through to the post-qualification rounds of the pairs.
Zoe Trowell and Sophie Hawkins (Gisborne Girls’ High) reached the quarter-final round, where they lost 10-5 to eventual title winners Liam Thompson and Elijah Horsburgh (Hamilton Boys’ High).
Adam and Quaylahn Casey (Lytton High) faced off against Sean and Jaykwan in the semifinal round.
Sean and Jaykwan were 6-4 up after eight ends and a great last bowl by Sean dragged the kitty back for two shots for an 8-4 win.
In the final, Sean and Jaykwan put up a valiant fight against the Hamilton Boys’ High combo before going down 13-5 after trailing 6-0 after three ends.
Jakeb Te Kani-Brown (Lytton High) teamed up with Jak Perry (Southland Boys’ High) to win the consolation plate.
Quaylahn Casey and Adam Rickard were third-equal in the pairs - one of three bronze medals Adam won over three days of competition at the NZ secondary school champs which also featured the NZ Junior Singles.
Adam and Jaykwan represented the Poverty Bay-East Coast centre in the New Zealand Junior Singles event on the third day.
Adam made it to the post-qualification rounds and secured his third bronze medal over the three days after being pipped 14-13 in the semifinals by Lachlan Blackbourn (Waikato).
Adam did well to come back from an 11-4 deficit after eight ends to lead 13-11 heading into the last end. But a slightly heavy last bowl from Adam gave Lachlan the opportunity to draw three shots with his last bowl to secure the win.
Leo Rennwandt (North Wellington) beat Lachlan 9-8 in the final.
In other indoor bowls news, a Poverty Bay-East Coast representative team of eight players travelled to Napier recently to play Hawke’s Bay for the Hunt trophy.
The team were Warren Gibb, Rachael Rickard, Lois Lamont, Jaykwan Casey, Leighton Shanks, Sean Haskins, Marise Raklander, Jaykwan Casey and manager Coralie Campbell-Whitehead.
The day started evenly with the teams locked at 12-all after the first rounds of fours and singles.
Poverty Bay led 19.5-16.5 after the first round of pairs.
However, Hawke’s Bay won both games in the second round of fours to give them a five-point advantage, which Poverty Bay were unable to bridge - Hawke’s Bay going on to win 38.5-33.5.
There were some close scores and the result could have gone PBEC’s way had they won just one more game of pairs in the last round.
