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The annual Club Champs for the Wanganui Squash Club was held during the weekend & finished off on Saturday night with its formal dinner & awards night. The Club Champions for 2008 were its top two A graders & Central reps Kent & Paula Darlington. Ant Rountree took out the tightly contested B Grade Cup which is a continuation of his form this season after benefiting from top interclub competition this year. Young junior Ngakuira Osborne took out the C Grade trophy, the U19 Junior girls and picked up the Most improved Junior girl, showing she has a bright future ahead of her as she is only 14 years of age. This year also saw the introduction of mixed & Mens doubles which added a bit more interest for spectators. The club actually has two pairings that are the current Central Doubles champions, Nihi Houia & Ken Mair hold the Mens title and Houia & Osborne the mixed title as well as a number of tournament titles around the country. This surely saw the competitive nature come out in the players and it was great healthy squash that was played. However the Central Champs were up staged as the mixed title went to the husband & wife team of Kent & Paula Darlington and the Mens title to Kent Darlington & Ant Rountree after an hour long close five setter. The Clubs two prestigious trophies saw the first one, the Achievers Award – gained by hard work & ability, go to Ant Rountree. It was great recognition of his form on the court & off as well. Rountree who is currently a B2 player produced some superb squash of late on the Interclub scene & has been improving & moving up the grade throughout the year. He is also heavily involved in the club with coaching the juniors & is a vital member of the committee. The second award, the Best All Round Club Member went to Gary Armstrong who again is an active committee member, has been looking after & constantly restocking the bar and is always a helping hand at whatever is going on whether it be business house or tournaments. Also mentioned was the clubs C Grade Mens team which won the local district eliminations. They now head to Lower Hutt to play against all the other regional winners for the NZ C Grade National title next Wednesday. The Wanganui side is seeded 5th out of the ten teams entered. The team consists of Alan Dallas, John Rostenburg, Paul Kenny, Matt Doyle, Ken Mair, Nigel Ward & is coached by Nihi Houia. As well as Darlington & Osborne making representative honours at NZ nationals & triangular series respectively, the club also had three juniors who were in the local High School girls team that won the local secondary schools competition. They were along with Osborne, Justine Vaughan & Chelsea Walls and they finished 11th at the NZ Secondary schools champs. Also presented to the club was a framed photo of the late Peter Vine, who was a B2 club player & sadly passed away earlier in the year. This now hangs on the wall in the lounge. Also presented along with this is a new cup called the Peter Vine Memorial Cup. This will be presented to the winner of the clubs annual B Grade tournament from next year forward in recognition of Peter’s love of the game & his competitive nature.
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