Whanganui Squash Club's sole junior representative Aria Bannister 10, returned from the North Island Junior Age Group Championship in Wellington as the runner up in the girls under-11 division.
She went in to the event seeded number 2 behind Auckland's Grace Spencer, who is a D grade player, a high level for someone aged 10.
Bannister defeated Spencer's team mate and number 3 seed Justine Pausch 3/1 in the semi final and lost a very tight final 3 games to 1 to Spencer.
Going in to the event Bannister's national ranking was no.5, but recent successes propelled her to number 2.
The event attracted over 180 children from all over New Zealand from the under-11 to the under-19 age groups including the girls and boys New Zealand teams travelling to Chennai, India this week for the world junior champs.