"The girls had a good attitude on and off the court. While they were all C grade at the cut off date in June by the time we got to tournament all but two were B grade," Nuku explained.
All of the team, apart from No 1 Jaicee Reed who had one loss in the final, were unbeaten. Havelock North recorded 5-0 victories in pool play against Red Star of Masterton, Devoy Squash Centre of Tauranga and Royal Oak of Auckland.
In their semifinal Havelock North beat Te Awamutu 4-0 and in their final Kamo of Whangarei 4-1. Nuku added most of her team will be aiming to play at the B grade nationals next year which are likely to be staged in the South Island.
The Hawke's Bay men were seeded seventh in their eight-team event. They beat Devoy Squash Centre 3-2, Whangarei 4-1 and Whanganui 3-2 in pool play before beating Kapiti 3-2 in their semifinal and Cambridge 3-2 in their final.
Coach Kevin Corkery was unable to attend most of their fixtures because of work commitments.
"We were grateful our club's A grader, Cameron Jamieson, was able to coach them. I made the odd match but let him carry on with the coaching for continuity and just helped out where I could," Corkery said.
"What made our win more remarkable was the fact two of our players [No 4 Jarrod McCarthy and No 6 Tamati Hohaia-Hall] were unavilable for the final because they had a funeral in Taumarunui," Corkery said.
While No 2 Sam Neil was unbeaten during the tournament Corkery pointed out two outstanding comebacks were crucial to the title success. In the last game of the semifinal No 3 Blake Knox was 2-0 down before fighting back to win 3-2 and secure the hosts their final berth.
In the final No 5, 16-year-old Isaac Pilcher, was 2-0 down before clawing back to win 3-2 in the second match to keep the team's final hopes alive.
"We were lucky Sam [Neil] won the fourth match in the final because with Jarrod and Tamati away we were never going to win the last match. Our No 7 Sam Fletcher was a C2 grader and he was up against a B2 grader," Corkery explained.
Going into the tournament three of the team, No 1 Taine Williams, Neil and Knox, were B graders.
"Most of the team will be B grade next year. If they are all keen we would love to take them to B grade nationals next year," Corkery added.
The title winning teams were:
Havelock North women: Jaicee Reed, Tina Rangi, Alisha Kinnear, Calliope Coleman, Kathy McLachlan (Player-Coach), Zara Evans, Juanita Eagle. Anna Nuku (Manager).
Hawke's Bay men: Taine Williams, Sam Neil, Blake Knox, Jarrod McCarthy, Isaac Pilcher, Tamati Hohaia-Hall, Sam Fletcher. Coaches: Kevin Corkery and Cameron Jamieson. Manager: Trevor Walker.