On the mats: Indoor Bowls news

INDOOR BOWLING HONOURS: Gisborne Boys' High School students (from left) Matthew Foster, Dylan Foster, Nathan Trowell and Akuhata Keelan with their medals and trophies from secondary schools competition. Picture by Liam Clayton

Nathan Trowell continued his great run of form, winning the zone final of the New Zealand Henselite Singles in Whakatane on his 16th birthday.

He was in a league of his own, going through the day unbeaten with wins against Tauranga 16-10, Thames Valley 16-7, Waikato 14-11 and Bay of Plenty 13-9.

Trowell has an outstanding record as a junior. Last year he won the national final of the pairs for those with one to five years' bowls experience.

He will now travel to contest the New Zealand finals in Masterton this month against seven other zone winners from throughout New Zealand.

Trowell and his younger sister Kayla contested the zone final of the New Zealand mixed pairs the day before, in Whakatane. Things didn't go their way, but they are a young brother-and-sister combo with years ahead of them.

Four Gisborne Boys' High School students travelled to the New Zealand secondary schools singles and pairs competitions in Wellington. On Day 1 the singles were held, and 45 players from throughout New Zealand started the event. Gisborne Boys' High students Akuhata Keelan, Nathan Trowell and Matthew Foster qualified in the singles. Dylan Foster failed to qualify, but won the plate event for non-qualifiers.

Twenty players qualified for the main event. All three Gisborne qualifiers had to play straight away.

Keelan was defeated in the first round of the sudden-death playoffs but his schoolmates Matthew Foster and Trowell won their games, which put them in the last 16.

Matthew Foster then defeated Onslow College's Jordan Keene 8-6, while Trowell defeated Katikati College's Kasey Marlow 7-4.

In the quarterfinals, Trowell and Foster had to play each other, and Trowell won a close match 8-7.

In the semifinal, Trowell came up against Southland Boys' High School's Shawn Perry, and Perry grabbed the point that counted to win 7-6, and went on to win the event.

Trowell played off for bronze against Verdon College's Matthew Tosh. This game was a massive battle before Trowell emerged victorious 7-6.

In the plate event for non-qualifiers, Dylan Foster immediately started playing the great bowls he's been known to dish out. He reached the final with scores of 11-7 (last 25 players), 13-5 (last 16) 11-6 (quarterfinals) and 13-5 in the semifinal against Mount Maunganui College's Sarah Burke.

In the final, against Mount Maunganui College's Matthew Adlam, Dylan Foster was way too good, winning the trophy with a scoreline of 12-5.

Nathan Trowell and Akuhata Keelan from Gisborne Boys' High School have won the New Zealand Secondary Schools Pairs competition for the second year in a row.

They qualified for the sudden-death playoffs by winning all four of their games in qualifying rounds in which 20 teams took part.

Trowell and Keelan drew the bye to go straight into the semifinal, where they came up against their Boys' High teammates, Matthew and Dylan Foster, who had also won all four games to qualify.

A game of top bowls see-sawed till Trowell and Keelan got the vital point to win 7-6.

They then came up against Onslow College's Jordan Keene and Logan Heppell and, after a titanic battle, Trowell and Keelan emerged 9-6 winners.

The Foster brothers played off for third place and had a 12-3 win against Mount Maunganui College's Matthew Adlam and Michael Burke.

Nathan Trowell concluded a successful weekend by winning the Player of the Tournament award. It was the first time a Gisborne bowler had won this trophy, and was the measure of a successful bowls year.