Wanganui Squash Club Champs Results 2009

The annual Wanganui Squash Club Champs finished off in style on Saturday night with a superb attendance (90) to the Club’s fourth year running of its sit-down prize giving & dinner where the winners for 2009 were acknowledged.  After some great competition over the whole week the finals on Saturday didn’t disappoint the crowds watching with some big battles on show especially in the doubles matches.  The Club’s two Open trophies will be under the same roof for the following year.  The Club’s two A graders Kent and Paula Darlington won their 9^th & 14^th titles respectively.  In the Men’s Open Kent Darlington beat Ant Rountree in the final 9/2 9/4 9/0, while Paula beat Ngakuira Osborne 9/2 9/0 9/2. 

The B grade trophy went to Rountree in the Men’s as he defeated Te Ratana Te Urumingi 9/0 9/2 9/0 and Osborne accounted for Moana Hawea in the Women’s 9/3 9/1 9/4.  In the C Grade the Men’s went to  Te Urumingi as he beat Barry Touzel in a tight three setter 9/0, 10/8 9/7.  The Women’s was won by Hawea.  The D Grade saw Sean Johnston and Steph Durning take out the Men’s & Women’s titles after they were both unbeaten in the Championship round robins.  Johnston also took out the E Grade division after he beat Ross Kinnerley 9/3 6/9 9/5 9/6, while the Women’s was not contested.  In the F Grade Men’s draw Darren Hull  won against Corey Craven 9/2 9/0 9/0 and Amber Ward was the winner of the Women’s after she won all her four matches in the round robin. 

The Women’s Masters saw Durning unbeaten over four matches while Touzel won a close three setter with Allan Dallas 19/8 10/8 9/4.  In the Tenderfoot draws, which are for those players who are in their first year of playing, Stephanus Schutte got through to the final & won in four sets against Paul Corner 9/4 4/9 9/4 9/0.  In the Women’s it was Tamia Hurtado who won all her three matches.  The Social draws saw Karen McKenzie win the Women’s with three wins from as many matches and Carl Matthews take out the Men’s over Graeme La Cock 9/3 9/1 10/9.   The J-Grade Boys title saw Jesse Perkins win against Glen Simpson in the final 9/5 9/5 9/3 while the girls was uncontested.  The Junior U19 Boys title saw the 2^nd seed Ross Kinnerley go through unbeaten in the round robin, while in the girls Osborne was the winner.  Osborne also picked up the Most Improved Junior Girl shield for 2009 and the Boys Shield was awarded to Neil Simpson.

Of particular interest this year was the doubles competition which has really grown of late at the Club.  After introducing it at last year’s Club Champs, this form of the game had really got club members interested for 2009, so much that there had to be two divisions.  Unveiled at the prize giving were three new trophies donated by Ken Mair & Moana Hawea which will now no doubt add more spice to the Doubles over the years to come.  It was fitting then that all three trophies, the Women’s Doubles (Hawea Cup), the Mixed Doubles (Mair Cup) & the Men’s Doubles (Houia Cup) were all taken out by these members of the families.  In the Women’s Doubles Moana Hawea/Ngakuira Osborne teamed up to beat Paula Darlington/Steph Durning 11/2 11/5 6/11 11/7.  The Mixed doubles saw a fierce battle which eventually went the way of Ken Mair/Ngakuira Osborne over Kent/Paula Darlington 11/6  14/12 2/11 5/11 11/7.  In the Men’s Doubles for D1 & Below top seeds Gary Armstrong/Alastair White defeated Ron Bakker/Sean Johnston in another five setter 12/10 6/11 11/6 8/11 11/4.  While the D1 & Above grade for the Houia Cup produced a beauty for the final match of the tournament.  Ken Mair/Nihi Houia were successful in beating Te Ratana Te Urumingi/Adam Finn in a huge five setter again 7/11 11/4 9/11 11/9 13/11.

The last two trophies of the night were two of the Club’s most prestigious trophies; the first was the Achievers Award which is gained by hard work & ability.  This year it was presented to Carl Denman

for the second time, Carl having won it in 2007.

Carl has put the hard work in this year, training during the week, travelling to Interclub, and tournaments around the district, playing 41 matches over this season with a 68% wins, many against higher-graded players which has seen him moving up 2 grades to top D1.

 The other prestigious trophy is for the Best All-Round Club member and this was awarded to our A grade player Kent Darlington.

Kent is on the Wanganui Squash Committee and a motivated member of the Club. He has played a key role in obtaining a large amount of sponsorship for the Club over the last few years, giving us ongoing income plus the opportunity to attract players to our B Grade and our Open Tournaments.  Over the last few months he has written up guidelines for running tournaments, so that new committee members have these to follow as they step up to the job. The Club Champs this year were so well attended and such a huge success, mainly due to the fact that Kent put in the time to encourage all the Club members to enter, either at a competitive level or a social level, inviting sponsors and past members to also attend the formal dinner and prize giving, which was a huge success. He took on the mammoth task of organising the dinner (with some help from his wife, Paula) and being our MC for the evening, keeping everything running smoothly.

Kent is also responsible for publicity for the Club, he can be seen at our working bees, and despite being unable to play due to injury this he has been involved with the Central Districts Protecta Series, supporting the guys and getting those results to the paper.
For full results click here

Friday 25/9/09