After a two year gap due to the COVID pandemic, the Northumbria junior county squash championships were held at Northern last weekend and it proved to be a tremendously successful event for Northern Squash club juniors :
BOYS Under 11 - Favourites Matteo Radley ( Hexham ) and James Southern ( Tynemouth ) couldn't cope with the power and speed of Northern's Will Brocklehurs, who beat both of them 3 - 2 to take the title.
GIRLS Under 11 - An all Northern final where Freya Finnemore beat Alice Pearsall in a very close match.
BOYS Under 13 - A very strong field of entrants and the top four are all products of our schools outreach work. Sam Tufton and Leo Blackett finished 3rd and 4th and Duncan Rutherford beat the Favourite Aidan Mahoney in an exciting final.
GIRLS Under 13 - An all Northern entry with county Badminton player Sophie Cockett, showing that she can play a mean game of squash too, with a 3 - 1 win over Eleanor Aynsley.
BOYS Under 15 - Yet another All Northern final, where number 1 seed Sam Ponente, showed that his previous wins at U11 and U13 were no fluke by beating his fellow Northern player Dan Toole.
GIRLS Under 15 - All seven entries were from Northern and although second seed Ava Naisbitt had to withdraw ill, she had her twin sister to take her place in the final where she couldn't quite get the better of the highly ranked number one seed, Shae Paterson.
BOYS Under 17 - The first non Northern final where James Taylor ( Alnwick ) beat Ben King ( Tynemouth ) in a comfortable 3 - 0 win. Northern's best performer was Joe Elliot in 3rd place.
GIRLS Under 17 - Zoe Shipsey , Northern's highest ranked U17 made the final where she met Annabelle Satow ( Hexham ) but Annabelle proved too strong and won 3 - 0.
BOYS Under 19 - A big crowd watched some sparkling squash between Tom Walsh ( Tynemouth ) and Sam Sweeney ( Primrose ). Tom was a slight favourite but Sam played out of his skin to win 3 - 1.
GIRLS Under 19 - Northern's Katie Barker picked up yet another county championship title with a 3 -1 win over Annabelle Satow, who had entered this event in addition to the U17s.
There was a big crowd there to witness the finals and then the presentations, which was great for organiser Dave Barnett, who did a fantastic job all weekend. In a surprise addition to the presentations, Harriet Wight , an ex Northern Junior who is now at University was awarded the John Dale trophy for the 2019/20 season for her performance as a county junior that season. This capped off a tremendous weekend for Northern Squash club juniors.
