Junior National Championships Review-Under 19's Section

Simon English once again became junior national champion this past weekend. The Stillorgan-based bowler took control of the tournament early on and never looked like being caught, taking gold in all three events to claim the top spot for the Round Robin final by 145 pins.

English exploded into the tournament, shooting a 236 in game one of the first event, the singles. He followed this up with a 288 in game two, the high game of the entire tournament. English went front ten before leaving a harsh ten-pin with his eleventh ball of the game.

Throwing the newest ball from Siesmic, the Euphoria, English looked streets ahead of the rest as he continued to pepper the pocket. He would eventually shoot 1164 for his five games, which saw him take the gold by a staggering 187 pins (Ciara McDunphy finished second, the singles section being mixed this year). Craig Grattan, Keith Rynhart and Taylor Nally were the nearest challengers, a sign of things to come in the tournament.

The Doubles event saw English and Rynhart team up dominate despite a slow start. A combined 366 score in game one saw them almost 100 pins down on Nally and his partner Aidan Byrne, who shot 451 to take the early lead. However, consistent scoring from then in from English and Rynhart saw them eventually take the gold by 88 pins from Nally and Byrne. The team of Christopher Sloan and Emily Goode took the bronze medal.

English's 208 average in the doubles, coupled with his 232 average in the singles, meant that the race for the top spot was all-but-over. However, there was still three spots in the Round Robin final up for grabs, as well as some players fighting for the ranking points in order to make the final panel for this year's Junior Triple Crown.

English secured his clean-sweep of gold medals in the trios, with his partners Rynhart and Grattan. They secured a 54-pin victory over Sarah Finlay, Christopher Sloan and Aidan Byrne. The bronze medal went to the team of Carl McDermott, Emily Goode and Nicholas King.

The line-up for the Round Robin Final was completed. Joining English was Rynhart, Grattan and Nally. Each player would play each other (three games each) in the final. In the end there was little fireworks in the final, with the final positions not changing from the positions in which the players came into the final.

In the girls section Ciara McDunphy dominated the small field to defend her junior championship crown. In total only six players competed in the under 19's section, forcing the under 19's events to be mixed this year.

In the singles McDunphy took the silver medal away from the chasing pack of both boys and girls. In the doubles Emily Goode secured a bronze medal with her partner Christopher Sloan. In the trios, Sarah Finlay took silver with her team, and Goode took another bronze with hers.

In the Girls All Events, McDunphy went into the Round Robin final with a comfortable 150-pin lead over Goode. Sarah Finlay and Laura Curran took the other two spots in the final. Finlay was the big performer of the final, shooting 217 and 225 in the second and third games to take second place away from Goode.

Congratulations to Simon English and Ciara McDunphy, Junior National Champions for 2011.

Review of the Under 16 sections will be posted soon. All the standings and scores are available on the ITBA website, http://www.tenpin-ireland.com/.