The team of Nic Ellem, Corey Whitla and Haylee Ross were up against 16 teams from NSW with Glen Innes placed in a pool to compete against Warilla, representing the South Coast region, Engadine, representing Sydney East region and Kingswood representing Sydney West region.

Team coach Dorothy Hancock said initially the team were a bit daunted by the draw they received.

“Warilla, Engadine and Kingswood had placed first, fourth and eighth respectively in last year’s finals,” she said.

“However with a positive attitude and a determination to play their best bowls our team took on Engadine first up on Wednesday morning and with Haylee leading off, Corey bowling second and Nic skip, Glen Innes gave a display of excellent bowling over 12 ends to comprehensively win 37 to 3. 

“With renewed confidence the team’s next game was against Kingswood and this was a very close and tense game and on the tenth end, after excellent placement by all team members we were able to score seven points and to go on to win the game 14 to 4.” 

But the winning streak ended when Glen Innes played Warilla, the school that had won last year’s tournament. 

“Although the team played well we came up against a very experienced and skilled team and we were defeated,” Mrs Hancock said.

“At the end of the day, we were very pleased and proud to have finished second in Pool C and because we had placed higher than Tamworth’s Peel High School in the Pool games we are now the North West Regional Champions for 2016.” 

Mrs Hancock said the team saw the placing as a great achievement as this was the first time a Glen Innes team had reached the State Knockout Finals. 

“This has been a great learning experience for Haylee and Corey and they will continue to improve and be strong contenders for next year’s team,” she said.

“Nic Ellem, our year 12 students and team skip led by example, his bowling and calmness in moments of pressure were of the highest standard and we will certainly miss his leadership and expertise next year.