Promising Otago junior indoor bowler Jonty Horwell (Logan Park High School) won the New Zealand Secondary Schools singles title in Wellington late last month.
Horwell (16), who won the New Zealand junior singles title last year, beat Jason Gray (Southland Boys') 12-6 in the final.
''I'm stoked and very happy,'' Horwell told the Otago Daily Times.
''It feels good. It was the highlight of my season.''
It was Horwell's second national title and it demonstrated that he has the temperament to be successful at the highest level.
''I just tried to stay calm and stick to what I knew was working for me. I tried to be consistent.''
It was not easy for Horwell because he broke his right wrist during a school snowboarding trip to the Ohau skifield and struggled with his bowling hand in a plaster cast until three weeks before the national championships.
''It made it difficult to bowl. I had to mentally adjust and simplify my delivery to eliminate mistakes.''
Horwell, the nephew of Bowls Dunedin representatives Peter and Steve Wilson, has been playing both big bowls and small bowls for the past seven years at the Kaikorai club.
The New Zealand secondary schools indoor bowls championships were first held in 2008 and Horwell is the first Otago bowler to win a title.
He also reached the semifinals of the pairs with schoolmate Sean Hall and was named the bowler of the tournament.
Sheldon Bagrie-Howley (Gore High School) won the pairs for three successive years from 2010-12.
North Taranaki wins Welch
North Taranaki won the Welch Trophy in Wellington with 108 points and was followed by Canterbury 99, Waikato 89.5, Counties 88.5, Upper Hutt Valley 82 and Otago 73.
This was North Taranaki's fourth Welch Trophy win. It also won in 1980, 2012 and 2013. Former Otago player Grant l'Ami (North Taranaki) was the top bowler with 13 wins.
Quarterfinal loss for Bosman
Hugh Bosman (Otago) was beaten in the quarterfinal of the New Zealand champion of champions singles in Christchurch last weekend. He lost narrowly 11-10 to eventual winner Ashley Diamond (Upper Hutt Valley). Diamond beat Grant Rayner (North Wellington) 16-3 in the final.
Eileen Grant (South Otago) and Stefan Robb (North Otago) were beaten in the first post-section round of the plate event and 2004 champion Matthew Begg (Central Otago) in the second round of the plate.
Nick Scriggens (Waimate, South Canterbury) was beaten in the quarterfinal of the plate.
At the Young Guns national championships at Hamilton, Nick Sinclair (Green Island) was runner-up in the singles and Brandon Williams (Wakari) and Jeremy Markham (Christchurch) reached the pairs quarterfinals.
Cadogan pair prevail
Michelle and Barry Cadogan (Momona) beat Shirley and Keith Ruthven (Momona) 7-6 in the Otago husband and wife pairs final.
Craig Cowan, Tracey van Tuel and Raewyne Black (Henley) beat Brandon Williams, John Williams and Doreen van der Hoek (Wakari) 13-5 in the triples final.
Sean Hall (Kaikorai) beat Lindsay McGregor in the novice singles.
Southland A beat Otago A 56-40 and Southland B beat Otago B by the same score in the representative match at Invercargill last month.
Balclutha to host champs
Next year's South Island championships will be held in Balclutha from June 4-6.
Alanna and Shona Preddy (Paretai) beat clubmates Wayne and Jill Rodgers 8-7 in the final of the South Otago pairs.
Robert Wilson (RSA) beat Doug Grant (Glenledi) in the men's champion of champion's singles final. Eileen Grant (Lawrence) beat Christine King (Stirling) in the women's final.
Jackaroos join singles
Three members of the Australian Jackaroos squad have been included in the 32-strong field for the 25th annual Speight's Invitation singles at North East Valley at Labour weekend.
The three - Mark Casey (33), Brett Wilkie (41) and Aaron Wilson (23) - are all in contention to make the Australian team for next year's World Bowls in Christchurch.
The promising Sheldon Bagrie-Howley (Gore) is the only New Zealand newcomer.
• The field is: Section 1: NEV qualifier, Justin Goodwin, Dan Delany, Raika Gregory, Mitchell Will, Richard Girvan, Bill Clements, Blake Signal.
Section 2: Aaron Wilson (Australia), Shannon McIlroy, Sean O'Neill, Mike Nagy, Bob McAuley, Terry Scott, Jamie Hill, NEV qualifier.
Section 3: Andrew Kelly, Dave Archer, Mark Casey (Australia), Andy McLean, Tony Grantham, Jim Scott, Andre Smith, Shayne Sincock.
Section 4: Philip Skoglund, Steve Wilson, Colin Wheeler, Mike Kernaghan, Mark Watt, Shaun Scott, Brett Wilkie (Australia), Sheldon Bagrie-Howley.
McLean for team of '16
Dunedin's Andy McLean ranked in the top four at the end of this year's Professional Bowls Association season and will make his debut for the New Zealand PBA team in the 2016 Trans-Tasman Challenge. The other members of the team are Murray Glassey (Hawkes Bay), Rob Ashton (Auckland) and Ken Walker (Dunedin). The fifth place will not be decided until after this year's event at the Cabramatta Club in Sydney on September 22-23.
The New Zealand team for this year's event is Glassey, Walker, Ashton, Craig Merrilees (Southland) and Duane White (Dunedin).
The winners of last weekend's New Zealand PBA finals at Auckland were: Andrew Kelly (Canterbury) beat Shane Elliott (Southland) 9-6, 12-2 to qualify for the Scottish singles; Rob Ashton (Auckland) beat Ken Walker (Dunedin) 7-6, 7-5 (World Indoor singles) and Murray Glassey (Hawkes Bay) beat Craig Johns (Taranaki) 6-12, 7-6, 2-1 (International singles).
Adam Turner (Wellington) won the Shanghai singles and Glassey beat Aidan Lusby (Dunedin) 7-8, 6-5, 2-0 in the semifinals of the international singles.
Roche will be missed
New Zealand bowls lost one of its best administrators with the passing of Ian Roche (84) last month.
At the time of his death he was patron of Bowls Dunedin and president of the Tainui Bowling Club.
He was negotiating with other clubs in the South Dunedin area to combine to create a stronger bowling community in combination with the Westpac Indoor Bowls Stadium. His drive and foresight will be missed.
He was a good friend of former Bowls Dunedin president Robbie Thomson, who prepared his dossier when he was awarded the QSM for his services to bowls two years ago.
