More than a dozen players from Far North clubs in Kerikeri and Kaitaia accounted for themselves well in a field of 54 young players representing nearly all of the squash clubs in Northland, contesting their respective divisions in the Kamo junior squash open last weekend.
It was the second tournament of the Stirling Sports Junior Player Series, for those playing D grade or below, and saw the top seeds hold on to their rankings; Kamo's Gemma Turketo winning the top girls division and Dargaville's Aaron Randall the boys over Kerikeri siblings, Paige and Jacob Browne respectively.
Highlights by Kaitaia players in the event included 4th seed Chance Froggatt pushing aside top seeded stablemate Daniel Clay to win the final of the boys 2nd division; Kendall Clay (Daniel's sister) surviving a five-setter with Maungaturoto's Samantha Allen to win the girls' 2nd division; and John Cameron finishing runner up to Kaleb Guest from the Mangakahia following tight four set final in the boys' 5th division.
Also, Whangarei's Te Oneroa Watts eventually edged ahead of Kaitaia's Te Rongonui Tepania to win the boys 4th division with the Far North player complimented for showing good sportsmanship and stamina having played three matches in this division and another three in the boys div 3 (filling a gap in the draw after a clubmate was unable to attend); Whangarei's Mason Berry eventually won a good-humoured affair over Kaitaia's Jimm Francks with a skin-of-the-teeth comeback in the div 4 boys; while Kaitaia's Tayla McDonald and Whangarei's Iyra Stewart took honours for playing the longest match of the weekend where McDonald eventually broke the stalemate by winning 22-20.
Full results from the Kamo junior squash tournament from May 17-19 were as follows.
Boys, div 1: Aaron Randall (Darg) 1, Jacob Browne (Keri) 2, Shayden Toka (Whg) 3; div 2: Chance Froggatt (Kta) 1, Daniel Clay (Kta) 2, Jayden Maugham (Kamo) 3; div 3: Nikau Newman (Darg) 1, Ben Van Veen (Kamo) 2, spec plate: Ned Saunders (Manaia), plate: Brad Moselen (Kamo), cons plate: Tyler Maugham (Kamo); div 4: Te Oneroa Watts (Whg) 1, Te Rongonui Te Pania (Kta) 2, Mason Berry (Whg) 3; div 5: Kaleb Guest (Mgka) 1, John Cameron (Kta) 2, sp plate: Devlin Gurr (MW), plate: Hunter Smith (Kamo), cons plate: Maz Saunders (Manaia); div 6: Waikotahi Pittman-Going (Kta) 1, Calum Sapwell (Kamo) 2, Brett Allen (Mgto) 3.
Girls, div 1: Gemma Turketo (Kamo) 1, Paige Brown (Keri) 2, Annmarie Holst (Mgto) 3, plate: Tia Saunders (Manaia), cons plate: Iyra Stewart (Whg) 3; div 2: Kendall Clay (Kta) 1, Samantha Allen (Mgto) 2, Nicola Hasler (MW) 3, Anna Moselen (Kamo) 4; div 3: Jade Woolhouse (MW) 1, Mackensy Smith (Kamo) 2, Jasmine Kitchen (Kamo) 3; div 4: Evie McLean (Kamo) 1, Trista Comer (Mgto) 2, Maya Howard (Kamo) 3.