Sports Reports: River Murray netball’s 2022 rep teams named
Plus golf, cycling and rifle shooting.
This post includes contributions from Charli Austin, Murray Bridge Golf Club, Phil McGee and Daniel Irvine.
The River Murray Netball Association has finalised its 2022 Country Championships squad following its final trials.
The association congratulated all athletes who participated and were selected for the squad which will compete at the Woodside Netball Carnival in May and in the South Australian Country Championships over the June long weekend.
The teams will compete across four divisions: 17s and under, 13s and under and 11 and under.
The championships are an excellent way to celebrate the sport, as well as to acknowledge the thousands of officials, coaches, umpires, and volunteers involved in the game.
Zrim, Meddle, Lannan and Morgan make golf semi-finals
Saturday’s Murray Bridge Golf Club championship quarter finals have lived up to expectations with some brilliant golf being played and a few tight finishes ensuing.
Top seed Aaron Zrim wasn’t expected to have much trouble with Luke Williams and this proved the case, with a comfortable seven and five win for Zrim.
Greg Lannan had Graeme Southern at his mercy when he was five-up halfway around, but the gritty Southern refused to throw in the towel, clawing his way back to just one down with a hole to play before only squaring the 18th to allow Lannan to progress.
Jeff Morgan began like a rocket, with three birdies in the first four holes, to leave Corey Dahlitz in his wake; the outclassed Dahlitz held his own for the rest of the round in a gutsy effort, but Morgan was too good, five and four.
The big match-up was between good friends Mark Bolton and Andrew Meddle; this contest did not disappoint with some super golf being played.
In a mild upset, Meddle proved a shade too good, two and one, with Bolton not having the gods on his side on a couple of occasions; that’s golf.
In the semi-finals this Saturday it will be Zrim v Meddle and Lannan v Morgan in two salivating matchups.
The super-consistent Morgan, although no certainty, would probably be expected to be too solid for Lannan while one may as well toss a coin in the other match-up.
Zrim has the advantage of distance off the tee but Meddle, if he is on, certainly has the short game to win it.
The only prediction is that we should see a terrific 36-hole final on the Sunday between whichever pair makes it.
In the B grade, top-rated and in-form golfer Joe Marcus looks likely to repeat his title win from several years back although Kayne Rigby, Michael Vella and Rod Thoman will be busting to spoil his party.
In the C grade, top-ranked Malcolm Blight was almost bundled out by “Gentleman” George Langsford as he had to drain a knee-trembling six-foot putt on the 18th to force a play-off up the first, which he duly won.
There will be decades of experience in the semi-final line-up: Mal Blight v Maurice Wells and Graham Edwards v “Aussie” Bob McCormick.
Finally, the veterans will pit Lloyd Norrish against Peter “Flash” Langcake and Gavin Sanderson against “Fabulous” Phil O’Malley: four fairly easygoing, un-flustered types.
With this division being based on handicaps, picking winners is a lottery.
Good luck to all and may the best men win.
Meanwhile, in a much reduced field due to the club championship quarter finals being played, Garry Ryan took out Saturday’s Stableford event in fine style with 38 points.
Eccentric Echunga visitor Garth Dodd was runner-up with 35 points, including a blistering 23-point back nine, and youngster Josh Doyle filled third place.
Murraylands cyclists will compete in 100-Mile Classic
Murraylands Cycling Club members Jason Woodard and Bill Robinson will be making the journey down to Mount Gambier this weekend to tackle the 100-Mile Classic on Saturday and State Kermesse Championships on Sunday.
The 100-Mile Classic is an open handicapped event in its 85th year with a 160-kilometre course winding its way through the Limestone Coast region, with nine sprints along the way and a tough climb up the “Mile Hill”.
With a prize purse of more than $12,000 for the weekend and 94 entries in the men’s event, there’s bound to be some tough competition.
Sunday’s kermesse event will be run around the picturesque 3.6km Blue Lake circuit.
Woodard will race for 75 minutes plus two laps in the men’s open championship, while Robinson’s event will be for 50 minutes plus two laps in the open graded support race.
Both riders have been doing a lot of kilometres on the road together in the lead-up to the event.
“We completed a six-and-a-half-hour training ride (on May 1), covering just over 200km at more than 31km per hour,” Robinson said.
“My prep … has been a continuation from training leading into Brisbane: developing a large base for later in the season, with five- to six-hour rides and longer-duration intervals becoming a staple in recent weeks and months, with a short period of sharpening up the legs two weeks out,” Woodard said.
“Overall it’s probably going to be a pretty fun but brutal weekend of racing and I’m sure there’ll be some fine weather forecasted for out that way to make the racing a little more interesting, too.”
- More information about the club: www.murraylandscc.org.au.
Rifle shooters contest inaugural Great Southern Open Prize Meeting
Keen and dedicated shooters from around South Australia and even the Northern Territory gathered at the Deed Range at Monarto last weekend for the first ever Great Southern Open Prize Meeting.
The concept, combining the Murray Bridge and Southern District Rifle Association meetings, gave competitors the chance to compete at longer ranges with 10-shot matches at 700 metres, 800m and 1000 yards on Saturday; with the top shooters in each F-class then shooting off in the Kuchel Challenge, and at the middle ranges, with 15-shot matches at 500m and 600m on Sunday.
The weather appeared ominous at times, and though there was no rain to spoil the weekend, the wind made competition interesting.
Given the conditions there were some good scores at the first range of 700m, including 59s from F-open shooters Rohan Carter (Wallaroo), Tim Manning (Mount Barker), and John Cranwell (Murray Bridge).
Jeff Makin (Bordertown) and Gordon Harrison (Murray Bridge) did well in F-standard with a 58 and 57 respectively; Harrison’s was all the more a standout as he was using open sights instead of a scope, while Mick Punturiero (Loxton) also scored a 58 in FTR.
The only possibles of the range were shot in TR, with B-grader Paul Mulligan (Darwin) scoring a 50.05 and A-grader Robert Paech (Murray Bridge) a 50.07.
Things got much trickier at 800m, where the best F-standard score was a 50.02 from Allan Morgan (Mount Barker), closely followed by Sharyn Makin (Bordertown) with 50.01.
No other F-standard shooter managed to hit 50 in the round, but F-open shooter Carter excelled with a 58.05.
Several TR shooters also would have done well in F-standard at this range, particularly Bill Naismith (Yanyarrie/Orroroo) in A grade and Daniel Nesbitt (Phoenix) in B grade, both of whom scored 48s, with Nesbitt only a centre behind Naismith.
The third range of day one, 1000 yards, was very tough, although you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise given the excellent and hard-earned 59.04 by Adrian Conlon (Murray Bridge) in F-open.
The conditions meant the 46.04 from Naismith in TR also stood out as an exceptional effort.
The top shooters in each F-Class then shot off for the Kuchel Challenge, also from the 1000-yard mark.
In the end Conlon held off Carter and Cranwell to win the badge in F-open.
Edwards (Murray Bridge) managed to keep Punturieo at bay in the under-represented FTR category, while Sharyn Makin had a breakthrough win ahead of Harrison and husband Jeff to claim the badge in F-standard.
Shooters were hopeful day two would be kinder, and it’s hard to tell if it was or if the closer distances also played a role.
In any case there were some more positive results, with Paech scoring a possible, finishing a point ahead of Greg Traeger (Murray Bridge) with a 75.09.
Graham Hancock (Mount Barker) announced his arrival, having missed the first day, with a 72.03 in B grade.
His clubmate Eddie Concannon also missed day one but made up for it at the first range with 86.06 in F-standard.
In F-open, Carter continued his impressive form from the first day with a possible 90.08 to claim the range ahead of Conlon and Cranwell, who both scored 89s.
Six hundred metres was slightly more difficult, with the top score in TR going this time to Naismith with a 74.06.
Mulligan returned to top spot in B grade with a 71.04.
In F-open, only centres separated Cranwell from Conlon, while in F-standard Jeff Makin was a class above the rest, scoring an 88.07.
The day ended very close in most grades, with TRA going to Naismith on 174.13, a single centre ahead of Traeger, himself a centre ahead of Robert Paech.
B grade went to Mulligan by a point from Dave Gardner (Mount Barker).
A point was also all that separated Jeff Makin from Lachlan Nicolson in F-standard, as well as Nicole Edwards over Mick Punturieo in FTR.
F-open also had to be decided on centres, with Cranwell taking the day from Conlon, 176.15 to 176.13.
The two days were combined to determine the grand aggregate winners for the first ever Great Southern OPM.
That distinction went to:
- Nicole Edwards, FTR (322.10)
- Adrian Conlon, F-open (348.22)
- Jeff Makin, F-standard (322.14)
- Paul Mulligan, TRB (275.15)
- Bill Naismith, TRA (290.23)
At the final presentation, many thanks were again extended to all those who travelled to compete and all those who made it possible by volunteering talents, time, and sponsorship of the various prizes.
Clarification: The name of one under-15 netballer was erroneously omitted from a previous version of this post.
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