Kyabram Bowling Club trio Brent Reiner, David Cartwright and his son Josh saluted in the state triples to book a ticket to the national event later this year.
Held at Bendigo East Bowling Club, the Bombers trio flexed its muscles against its Melton opponents to clinch a 14-11 triumph on Sunday.
The win from Reiner and the two Cartwrights backs up the performance from David’s daughter Olivia, who claimed the women’s singles gong the previous week.
Olivia, who features for Moama, finished runner-up in the mixed pairs with her partner Brad Campbell.
Reiner spoke midweek about the “amazing” win he was a part of with his fellow Kyabram teammates.
“We’re pretty happy mate. It still hasn’t really sunk in yet,” he said.
“It was such a long journey, it started in October last year and we haven’t touched a bowl in six weeks since the pennant season ended. It was my first ever state win, Josh’s first and I think it was David’s first state win too. To share it with them was fantastic.
“It was a fun weekend, we didn’t take ourselves too seriously and we just had a lot of fun out there.”
Reiner and co began their triples victory with a 17-9 win against a unit from Bundoora, picking up six shots late in the match to blow out the result.
David said that win was the spark that gave his side belief it could win.
“We went in with no expectations or anything like that, we understood we hadn’t played for six weeks,” he said.
“But the thing is we gel well together and all complement each other and once we got on top we thought ‘right, let’s have a red-hot crack’.”
The Goulburn Murray champions followed that up with a 20-13 semi-final result, leading 15-4 after seven ends after claiming a pair of four-shot ends early in the match.
A one-shot semi-final win, against a Gippsland trio, came after seven successive end wins allowed it to address an early deficit and eventually win the 19-end contest 14-13.
Pitted against the Metro West champion, Melton, the Kyabram bowlers won the title with a 14-11 scoreline after skipping out to an 8-2 win from the opening six ends.
The margin was closed to three with three ends remaining, but the team steadied and secured the championship with wins on 10 of the 18 ends.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” David said.
“It’s a bit surreal really, the boys from the bush winning. Brent probably didn’t have the weekend he wanted with bowl in hand, but he was an A-plus teammate and his support, encouragement and everything else needed to be a good teammate was A-plus.
“I’m super proud of Josh. To play with him is special, but to win, it gives me goosebumps. They’ll never be able to take this away from us.”
Reiner praised the efforts of skip David, who performed brilliantly in the final on a tricky deck.
“David was on fire. The green got tough as the day went on and David just played it brilliantly,” Reiner said.
“We all had our moments throughout the week, but it was David in that final who was the standout.
“We get to head to Perth now in October for the national event and it’s going to be fantastic to be able to represent Victoria in the triples.”
Meanwhile, Josh is joined by Charlie Boswood, Maddison Marin and Jorja Ponton in the under-18 state intra-squad event following their selection this week.
The quartet is gunning for a spot in the state side to compete in the tri-series against NSW and Queensland later this year.
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