SEVEN Bathurst Tennis Club juniors will be progressing through to the upcoming state finals after their strong performances at last weekend’s Champion of Champions tournament.
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The Bathurst collective excelled in the weekend’s Central West Junior Development Series finale, finding the top four finish required to qualify for the next stage in November.
Bathurst players Chloe Brasier (under 10s), Haley Speirs (12s), Tayla Brasier (14s), Caitlin Speirs, Dominique Mitton (both 16s), Bryson Richards and Gabby Mitton (both 18s) all progressed through to the NSW JDS State Finals.
Bathurst Tennis Centre’s head coach Andrew Mitton said the city’s girls continue to shine through at the tournament.
“Girls tennis is going really strongly in Bathurst at the moment. We’ve got a great crop of girls going through. A lot of the girls will be able to have another year in their age group as well,” he said.
“It’s great for us to get such a good number of players through. The main two associations to qualify players were probably Penrith and Bathurst. I’d say we would have had around 50 per cent of our players go through.”
Mitton said most of the Bathurst playing group have progressed well in just the space of a year.
“Tayla Brasier played a year out of her age group to finish in the top three. The Speirs girls, who are from Blayney and play here, have improved out of sight. Caitlin didn’t even make Champion of Champions last year,” he said.
Bathurst’s strongest representation in Champion of Champions came in the under 16s girls where four players took part.
The Speirs sisters also laid claim to finishing top of their respective points tables going into the Bathurst finale.
No Bathurst players were able to claim top prize in the Champion of Champions but there were plenty of podium finishes to be found.
Taylor Brasier finished third in the 14s girls, while Dominique Mitton and Caitlin Speirs filled the minor spots in the 16 girls. Gabby Mitton was second in under 18s.
Andrew Mitton said the tournament once again provided a great standard of tennis.
“The 12s and 14s boys had a very strong competition and the 14s girls have a couple of national players in there as well,” he said.
Eglinton Tennis Club’s Jeorge Collins, Scott Osbourne, Maddison Honeyman and Mark Sheather gave the club strong representation by qualifying for Champion of Champions.
Overall this season 44 Bathurst and eight Eglinton players took part in the Junior Development Series, showing that there’s no shortage of upcoming talent in the city.
The state finals run from November 12 to 14 in Sydney.
