Mangakahia's Tate Matson and Sacha Pou-Tito finished as the top Northland players in the New Zealand Junior Squash Open held in at the North Shore Squash Club over the weekend.
Both players made the quarter-finals of their respective open draws but progressed little further and were not able to improve their
national ranking.
Matson, who was ranked sixth going into the championships, beat Regan Smith and Dylan Irihei before his quarter-final match-up with Napier's Bryce Redman.
The now Auckland-based Whangarei player lacked patience in the match and went down in straight sets. He had his revenge though in the playoffs for fifth to eighth by beating Redman's brother Todd in five sets to earn a place in the playoff for fifth and sixth. Unfortunately he lost that match too - to Palmerston North's Tom Nash - to finish sixth.
Matson now has just two more ranking tournaments - both in Hamilton - to convince the selectors he is worthy of selection into the New Zealand team for July's junior men's world championships in Ecuador.
Top seeded Cantabrian Paul Coll claimed the boys open title over second-seeded Aucklander Lance Beddoes.
Pou-Tito beat Brittany Gibbons in straight sets before coming up against Waipu's Abbie Palmer in the next round.
In the quarterfinal, Pou-Tito met top ranked Lana Harrison in good touch and was dispatched in three sets but things didn't go as planned from there for the No1 seed. Harrison was upset in the semifinals by fourth-seeded Emma Millar from Wellington, who went on to beat second seeded Cantabrian Megan Craig in the final, over five sets.
Pou-Tito lost her repechage match to finish about the same as her eighth-ranking going into the tournament.
There were three Northland title winners from the more than 20 players who attended the tournament.
Mangakahia D grader Danielle Nauman beat Kirtanaa Skantha to win the first division title in four sets, which may see her improve to D1 in the next grading.
Whangarei 12-year-old Sam Sayes beat Bay of Plenty's Michael Dunstan 3-1 to win the division two boys title, while another Whangarei player Finn Trimble beat Treivaan Taiapa to win the division four title.
