Cumbria’s best young squash players battled it out to be crowned county champion for the 2017/18 season.
The championships were held at Carlisle Squash Club last weekend (January 13/14) with players from Carlisle, Wigton, Windscale, Whitehaven, Workington and Penrith clubs competing.
Carlisle’s Keane Appleton took the top boys title, winning the U19 crown in a thrilling five setter against Wigton’s James Wilkinson.
The pair entered into a three-way battle for the trophy with them both beating Windscale’s Brandon Groggins in the round robin.
The city club also had the U17 winner in Adam Goad who beat clubmate Joseph Broadley in the final.
It was a maiden county championship for Penrith’s Matthew Davidson who won the title despite it being the firs time the youngster had entered the competition. He fended off Wigton’s Zak Leathers in the final 3-0.
Zak and Matthew both saw off a strong challenge from Carlisle’s James Corrigan, an U13 county player who’d stepped up an age group for the tournament.
The younger two competitions belonged to west Cumbria.
Josh Tang, representing Workington and Whitehaven, was the U13 county champion, pipping Carlisle’s Nathan Sellers in the final. Josh, who had been playing at number one for Cumbria’s U13 inter-county team beat his teammate 3-1.
Nathan had taken a 1-0 lead in the final but Josh ultimately proved too strong.
Another debutant won a championship in the U11 category with Liam White, who plays out of Workington and Windscale squash club’s, beating Carlisle competitor Ollie Pritchard in the final. Both were entering the tournament for the first time.
Disappointingly, there were no girls county championships held this season. There were a small number of entries spread across age groups which meant it was not feasible to run a competition.
- Cumbria Squash would like to place on records its thanks to Ronnie Bell and Carlisle Squash Club for hosting the event and to all the players, parents and volunteers who supported it.
Thanks should also go to Roger Smith and Thomas Graham & Son Ltd for their continued sponsorship of the organisation.
Full list of winners:
U19: Keane Appleton bt James Wilkinson
U17: Adam Goad bt Joseph Broadley
U15: Matthew Davidson bt Zak Leathers
U13: Josh Tang bt Nathan Sellers
U11: Liam White bt Ollie Pritchard