Two of Orange’s up-and-coming tenpin bowlers in Micaylah Downey and Steven McConnell bowled the competition over at the Junior Classic Masters at the Campbelltown State Championships to pick up the Classic Masters and Restricted Masters respectively. 

Downey knocked over 1458 pins on her way to the win, averaging 182 across her eight rounds on February 11.

She pulled a huge 208 out of the bag in her final round after trailing eventual second-place Emily Meehan by 13 pins at the end of round seven to give her her first state title.  

McConnell, competing a week later in the Restricted Masters at his first state championship, averaged 163 in his eight rounds, breaking the 200 mark in the sixth round to finish with 979 pins, but under handicap rules he took home the first prize by 105 points, finishing with 1417 ahead of second placed Matthew Mitchell. 

Orange Tenpin Bowls coach Jason Brown said he was “pretty stoked” to see the pair do well. 

“Micaylah has come along for a few years to state and national champs and to finally achieve this title is fantastic,” he said.

“She’s won a few local events but this is her first state title.

“Stevie had his first time at the state champs and he was a bit overwhelmed with it all and with winning but he did really well.”

All in all nine youth and junior bowlers made their way to Campbelltown for the contest, and Brown said there were good signs.

“They all bowled quite well and we’ve seen improvements in them – hopefully we might see a few more state titles in a few years.”