Johnston creates history on the mat
Kaleb Johnston has created Nelson indoor bowls history by becoming the youngest player to win a gold star following his success at last week’s champion of champions pairs event.
In tandem with his father Mike, 15-year-old Kaleb claimed his fifth Nelson Centre champion of champions title after the Stoke duo beat Club Waimea’s Ryan Eggers and Jean McKenzie 10-8 in Wednesday’s final.
The record was previously held by New Zealand Black Jacks bowler Ali Forsyth who was 20 when he won his gold star. However, Johnston’s used to creating history, having won his first centre title as a 10-year-old. Forsyth was 12 when he won his first title.
The Johnston’s win wasn’t without its drama though after heading into the last end of the final 8-5 down. Kaleb then played a superb last lead bowl to turn the end on its head, going from two down to three up.
Father Mike then drew two further bowls onto the jack and Eggers missed with both his draw shots to leave the Stoke team five up. Eggers drove at the head with his last bowl but missed, leaving the Johnston’s the winners by 10-8.
Kaleb has now won the centre champion of champions pairs twice, the fours twice and the junior singles once, and was runner-up last year in the men’s singles.
The Johnston’s continued their success in Saturday’s Shone & Shirley 2-4-2 open pairs when they secured a countback win over Hope’s Ron Green and Lois Burland.
The two teams both emerged with four wins after four rounds of play. After a countback of ends, both teams still remained tied with 18 ends each, so it went to points scored with the Johnston’s sneaking home 35-28. The Suburban Club’s Bev Boucher and Vonnie Turipa were third.
However, the Johnston’s winning run ended in Sunday’s Honest Lawyer Nelson Centre champion of champion triples when they lost 7-6 to Wakapuaka’s Fred and son Johnny Persico and Shirley Deerness in a tense final.
Persico’s team played consistently well to make the final with both lives intact, including a tight 4-3 win over Suburban’s Dorothy Iddon, Vonnie Turipa and Jenny Mason.
Johnston’s team, which also included Linda Carrick, had lost a life to Wakapuaka 9-5 in qualifying.
The final was also an absorbing affair with Persico pulling back from 3-6 down to go into the last end tied at 6-6. Persico secured the shot with his last bowl of the match, Johnston missing with his last bowl to hand Wakapuaka the win.
This week’s action includes the Club Waimea open fours on Friday at 6.45pm at Club Waimea and the Marlborough open pairs and fours this weekend at the Simcox Stadium in Blenheim.
The New Zealand national junior singles are on Saturday and the national secondary schools singles on Sunday, both in North Wellington, with Kaleb Johnston representing Nelson in the junior singles and Waimea College in the secondary schools singles. He placed third equal last year in the national junior singles.