Players in state championships

Under-age hockey teams from across the state converged on Melbourne for annual Junior Country Championships at the weekend and while no Wimmera teams participated, several Wimmera players were in squads from other associations.

Warracknabeal players Ben Williamson and Clarice Bennett represented North Central under-18 boys and Sunraysia under-18 girls respectively, and Jonathan Dixon, Jacob Dixon and Max Goodwin, all from Kaniva, and Tom Batchelor from Horsham, played for Sunraysia under-18 boys.

All under-18 games were at Footscray Hockey Centre.

The Sunraysia boys started the tournament with losses to Albury-wodonga, Ballarat and East Gippsland but finished day one with a win in a twilight game over Goulburn Valley.

Max Goodwin scored the team’s only goal in its loss to Ballarat.

North Central did not have a great Saturday either, with losses to Ballarat, Central Victoria, Albury-wodonga and East Gippsland.

The biggest game for these teams came on Sunday morning when they played each other in the ‘battle of the north-west’, where Sunraysia came out on top, with

Batchelor scoring one of the team’s three goals to defeat North Central, which scored twice.

North Central earned its only points with a two-all draw with Goulburn Valley in its last game, with Williamson scoring one goal.

Sunraysia lost to Central Victoria in its final game, which left it in a credible fifth place among some strong opponents.

Central Victoria defeated Albury-wodonga to win the final.

Sunraysia girls started their weekend with losses to Goulburn Valley and Alburywodonga, but came out on top in its northwest derby with a two-goals-to-one victory over North Central.

Sunraysia’s last preliminary game was a loss to East Gippsland, but it still qualified for another encounter with North Central in an elimination final.

After a tight game, Sunraysia progressed to a third-place playoff with a 3-2 win, and in that match, reversed the result of its previous meeting with East Gippsland with a 3-1 win to finish the tournament in third place.

Albury-wodonga defeated Goulburn Valley by one goal to win the final and under-18 girls championship title.