Oak Flats took out the Zone 16 President's Reserve Fours in style, while Warilla won the other two Zone Fours titles including Aaron Teys clinching a thriller for the Open crown at Warilla Bowls.
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Horrendous weather forced the resumption of the Senior Fours and President's Reserve Fours semi-finals, plus the Open Fours decider to be played on the indoor carpet at tournament headquarters Warilla last Saturday.
In President's Reserve, Oak Flats skipper Leanne Smith and partners converted a 24-10 semi-final lead over clubmate Peter McDonald with three ends remaining into a 29-12 win.
In the other semi-final, Gerringong's Glen Benson led Dapto Citizens' Troy Gumm 18-16 with four ends to play and went on to post a strong 30-17 win.
Smith and partners Tony Guarnaccia, Glen Cowling and Mario Marsh then completed an excellent tournament with a 24-19 victory over Benson and his partners Dennis McKeveney, Chris Wade and Rod Loosemore in the final.
Smith is the first female bowler to win a Zone 16 championship, with women able to compete alongside men for the first time in all Bowls NSW championship events. Meanwhile, Warilla's Dallas Delatorre (skip), John Thompson, Peter Read and Rob Tynan are the 2020 Zone 16 Senior Pairs champions after beating Dapto Citizens' Noel Davis, Terry Seton, Rick Malley and Brian Harriott (skip) 24-10.
The Open Fours final was just as tight with two star-studded Warilla rinks going head to head and Aaron Teys and partners edging out Jeremy Henry's rink 16-15 over 21 high quality ends.
Teys and his Jackaroos teammate Corey Wedlock, along with Maltese international Brendan Aquilina and Jamie Turner will represent Zone 16 along with the Warilla Senior Fours champions and Oak Flats Reserve Fours winners at the NSW Championships in August.
World Champion Jeremy Henry and his Fours teammate Jamie Mitchell are former NSW Triples champions and the duo plus Gorillas' recruit Wayne Toomey and Eric Haynes led early in the Fours final and played their part in a tremendous Zone decider.
Henry beat Michael Stead's Dapto Citizens 24-22 in their semi-final, while Teys overcame Wiseman Park's Jarrod Andrews 26-15.
Meanwhile, the poor weather meant just one first round Zone 16 Open Triples match and two Senior Triples games were played indoors last Sunday at Warilla with the Zone Triples to continue this weekend.
It is hoped the Senior Triples event can be completed with the final on Sunday afternoon.
Thirty teams have nominated for the Grade 5-7 Reserve Triples, with 18 teams representing 11 clubs nominating for the senior triples.
The Zone 16 Pairs will begin on Saturday February 22 before the Pennants season starts on February 29.
Warilla claim women's senior fours
Warilla showed their class with four brilliant wins to claim the Illawarra District Senior Fours title recently.
Skipper Leone Barnett and partners Vicky Turner (lead), Maureen Murphy (second) and Shirley Lindsay (third) clinched the title with a 25-15 win over Thelma Lever's
Oak Flats side in the final at Windang.
Warilla won their four matches by a combined score of 98-42 after posting a 25-3 win over Lynn Hamill (Wiseman Park) in round one, followed by a 23-13 win over Bessie Alaban (Windang) in round two.
Warilla then beat Julea Morgan (Wiseman Park) 25-11 before clinching the title with a 10-shot win in the final.
Dapto Citizens Kim Suckley (skip), Debbie Kelly, Sofia Paseka and Christine Ellem won the Open Fours crown after a hard-fought victory over another Dapto Citizens team skipped by June White in the final. The District Senior Fours featured 13 teams from 11 clubs and was played over three days at Warilla, Albion Park and Windang bowling clubs.
The Oak Flats team of Thelma Lever (skip), Christine Coen (lead), Margaret Berk (second) and Joan Scard (third) followed up a first-round bye with a thrilling 20-19 win over Margaret Hayman (Fairy Meadow) and 21-9 win over Towradgi's Diane Waldron.
Windang talent on award shortlist
Top Windang junior Daniel Davies has been recognised for an excellent 12 months by being shortlisted for the Bowls NSW Junior Bowler of the Year award.
Davies has been among the top young talent in Zone 16 over the past couple of years and in 2019 won the NSW Junior Pairs with Toby Peters
He also made a clean-sweep of the Zone 16 Junior Championships.
Davies is shortlisted with Cabramatta's Matthew Swan and top Merrylands teenager Michael Phillips for NSW Junior Bowler of the Year will be determined at Thursday's 2019 Player Awards Evening at the Kirribilli Club, Lavender Bay.
Warilla Bowls is in contention for the Country Club of the Year with Kurri Kurri BC and Raymond Terrace BC also shortlisted.
Among the major awards is the Bowler of the Year featuring Aaron Appleby (Kurri Kurri), Matthew Baus (Raymond Terrace); Nathan Dawson (Kurri Kurri); David Ferguson (Engadine), Peter Taylor (Alstonville) and Ben Twist (St Johns Park).
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