Cartwright could have been forgiven for thinking she was jinxed at this year’s Australian Open when she drew champion Australian representative Natasha Van Eldik in the sectional play of the singles event.
The 19-year-old did not only recover from the one-sided match up with the woman many consider to be Australia’s best ever female bowler, but thrived in the later stages of the tournament to be part of an Australian Open title winning team that included players from three states.
Cartwright bowled with West Australian Laura Butler and Queensland pair Chloe Stewart and Katelyn Inch to win the Australian women’s fours title.
A Kyabram P-12 graduate from 2022, Cartwright is a member of the renowned lawn bowls family which has this year seen father David, along with younger bothers Josh and Jacob all win state titles.
They secured a 15-9 victory over Brianna Smith, Ellen Falkner, Kristina Krstic and Ellen Ryan.
While it was a first for Cartwright, Butler and Inch, Stewart was picking up her third title at national level and performed brilliantly in the third position as the quartet raced out to a 7-2 lead.
On the seventh end, Ryan converted a five to level proceedings before Inch and company proved to be the foils to the party, winning the next five ends to set up an unassailable lead.
They dominated in the lead-up games, winning 15-7 in the quarter final against a team that included the sister of Cartwright’s Moama bowling colleague Cass Millerick.
They won the semi-final 18-9.
Cass Millerick and Cartwright bowled together in the Victorian championships earlier this year and are both members of the Moama Premier League team that contests the Bendigo Campaspe Goldfield’s elite competition.
At the Australian Open Millerick played with her sister Olivia in the pairs.
Millerick was the toast of the region last week when she returned from the Gold Coast with the Austraian Open women’s singles title.
She beat Helensvale bowler, Kelsey Cottrell, another Australian representative and three-time Commonwealth Games representative 21-19 in the final.
Earlier in the tournament Cartwright won only one end against Van Eldik (now Natasha Scott), who is a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist and five-time world outdoor champion.
She beat her second-round opponent, Dandenong’s Nicole McKenzie in the second round and only lost by two shots to South Australia’s Hanika Booth in the third round.
Van Eldik eventually lost in the fourth round of the knockout event, but Cartwright watched from the sidelines as her Moama teammate — Cassandra Millerick — worked her way through the field and into the final.
Cartwright and Laura Butler played together in the pairs event at the Australian Open, but didn’t progress past the sectional play.
