Victorian teams excelled on their return to the Australian Under-16 Junior Championships last week with two medals won in Perth!
Following a two-year hiatus from the Under-16 championships due to COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, our Under-16 teams hit the court hard to make up for lost time, with the Victoria Metropolitan Under-16 Men winning the gold medal and the Victoria Metorpolitan Under-16 Women claiming bronze.
The Metro Men were exceptional throughout the week and turned the tables on Queensland South in the grand final to take the championship with an 85-70 win. The Victorians turned around the earlier result in the tournament against Queensland South to take the championship and bring the trophy back to Victoria!
Harry Beauchamp led from the front all week as Metro Men’s captain, signing off in the gold medal clash with a game-high 24 points to go alongside 10 rebounds and four assists. There were plenty of contributors throughout the tournament for the Metro Men with Ryder Cheesman (15 points, seven assists) and Henry Sewell (12 points) leading the way in the finale.
Squaring off in a battle for the bronze, our Victoria Metropolitan Under-16 Women took out a nail-biting 55-53 win over the Victoria Country Under-16 Women.
In a back-and-forth thriller in Warwick Stadium, in the end the Metro Women took out the medal with Daisy Nousis (16 points, 13 rebounds), Taia McMechan (11 points) and captain Emilia Dakic (nine points, five rebounds four assists) leading the charge.
For the Country Women, it was an impressive final showing for the likes of Krystal Arnason (15 points, seven steals, five rebounds), Mia Harvey (10 points) and captain Tayli Dimarco (eight points, six rebounds, five steals) while one of the shining stars for Vic Country, Sophie Taylor excelled throughout the week but was unable to participate in the bronze medal clash.
Our Victoria Country Under-16 Men finished sixth at the tournament following a narrow 95-97 defeat to NSW Metropolitan in the final classification game of the week. The Country Men were led by the dynamic Dash Daniels (31 points, five rebounds) to cap off his sensational week in Perth while Cooper Duff-Tytler (16 points, six rebounds) and Lachlan Kanngiesser (15 points) also excelled throughout their last clash.
It caps off a strong year for Victorian teams at the Australian Junior Championships with four championships won as well as two silver medals and three bronze medals to cap off our tally in 2022.
AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2022 MEDAL RESULTS
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Victoria Under-20 Women
Victoria Ivor Burge Women
Victoria Metropolitan Under-18 Women
Victoria Metropolitan Under-16 Men
SILVER MEDALISTS
Victoria Ivor Burge Men
Victoria Metropolitan Under-18 Men
BRONZE MEDALISTS
Victoria Kevin Coombs Cup
Victoria Under-20 Men
Victoria Metropolitan Under-16 Women
