2022 Nationals | Mixed results for Vics
What an amazing two weeks our Vics had in Broadbeach during Nationals 2022.
U18 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The event started off with the U18 Championships where we came away third in the Boys tally and third overall. We couldn’t have been prouder of our juniors who all played their hearts out which resulted in every one of them going home with a medal.
Plus, in what was always going to be a possibility, our two VIC girls who were selected to make up a composite side, played off for bronze against our VIC Girls in the Pairs, for an all-Vic bronze medal match. That was followed by the Boys 4’s coming back from the brink to take the bronze medal thanks to some superb bowls by all 4 boys. Congratulations to the entire squad!
Congratulations to the two players of the series, Amity Bickley and Will Mays. Amity played off for gold and was just pipped to take home a silver medal in the Singles. While Will was a two-medal winner, taking gold in the Pairs and bronze in the Fours.
📷 View BA Photo Gallery & U18 Medallists Gallery
MULTI-DISABILITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Over at Club Mermaid our boys got off to a flying start in the Open triples, with Josh Thornton, Lucas Protopapas and Josh Barry winning gold! Barry Brennan knocked out Thornton to play in the final and came home with the silver and Thornton went on to claim Bronze in the Men’s B7/8 Singles. Alison East secured a second bronze in the Women’s B7/8 Singles, for an overall tally of one Gold, one Silver and two Bronze for the event.
📷 View BA Photo Gallery & Multi-Disability Medallists Gallery
O60’S (SENIOR) SIDES CHAMPIONSHIPS
Our Vic’s came away with the clean sweep at the conclusion of the Senior Sides Championships. Both our men and women turned up the heat on the final day of play to claim the John Dobbie AM Men’s trophy, the Betty Collins OAM Women’s trophy, as well as the Glyn Bosisto MBE overall trophy.
A massive achievement by our O60’s and a first for Victoria taking home the win having never won this event before.
📰 Read full BA article here
OPEN SIDES CHAMPIONSHIPS
It wasn’t to be this year for our Open Sides. After the men got off to a great start, upstaging the defending champions in NSW, they went on to secure just two further wins against NT & ACT, for a final ladder position of 5th.
The women were competitive and racked up wins against SA, NT & TAS, & ACT and came very close to WA, losing by just one shot. Perhaps their result didn’t reflect the quality matches that took place throughout the series, and the women’s side finished in 4th place.
The team should be proud of their achievements and we look forward to improving on this result in 2023.
📰 Read full BA article here
AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Victoria was went into the Aus Champs with some incredibly strong talent in both the individual and team events and secured a gold early into the event. The Men’s Triples side consisting of Winston Brackley, Nino Vlahovic & Brett Mahoney were just too strong. Over to the Men’s Singles, and Thor Shannon worked hard winning two out of three before earning a bronze medal. In the Women’s Singles, Jodie Fruend got off to an incredible start against Kelsey Cotrell but it wasn’t to be this year for Jodie. It was then time for another Fruend, Ehtan this time, to take the stage and with Adrian Pantling this duo took home bronze in the men’s pairs. The Women’s Pair of Barb Vaughan & Nic McKenzie battled it out for bronze but were just pipped by the Tassie pair.
It was a fitting end to the championships, with our Women’s and Men’s Fours both battling it out side by side for gold. The women had an epic battle the whole match but it was WA who finished strong to take the gold, giving Olivia Slade, Louise Whitehead, Carol Protopapas & Karen Barton the silver medal. Shortly after, the Men’s Fours finished in a draw and after some astoundingly good bowls by the bowls, and two extra ends due to the skill of skipper Ant Flapper, it was a gold medal winning performance and deserving win for Jordan Yates, Brad Willoughby, Paul Williamson & Anthony Flapper.
