ST Columba's and St Bernard's are both celebrating victory in the Cumbria Schools Table Tennis finals.

St Columba's under-11s boys and St Bernard's under-13s girls both picked up the trophies in the county finals at St Bernard's.

The title-winning teams will be joined by St Bernard's under-16s boys and Millom School under-19s boys in the zone finals at Kirkby Stephen later this month.

The under-11s boys and girls competitions were played as a single event, with St Columba's B starting well as they were convincing winners against newcomers Beckermet.

It had looked as though it would be a close match when Harrison Cloudsdale won the opening match for the West Cumbrians against Rhys Mills, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9.

However, Joe McKechnie and Archie Yates both won two matches and Rhys Mills, Charlie Eacott and Freddie Coxon one each to give the Walney team a 7-1 victory.

St Columba's A also hit top form in their opening match against Beckermet Girls. Seth Woodend, Mason Eacott, Oliver Morgan and Hudson Posnett-Payne all won their two matches in straight sets.

St Columba's B had a good match against Beckermet girls, with the opening match between McKechnie and Libby Marsh going to a decider before the former win.

Beckermet number one Lucy Winstanley levelled with an 11-7 16-14 win against Mills, before Coxon put St Columba's ahead once more, beating Jasmine Tatham.

Ellen Sherwen overcame Charlie Eacott 11-9 12-10 to level at 2-2, but the second half of the match went the way of the Barrow school.

McKechnie, Yates, Mills and Charlie Eacott all won, though Sherwen came close to taking a second triumph, going down 10-12, 12-10, 11-9 to Mills, while and Jessica Mawson went to a decider with Eacott, having won the first set.

The closest match of the event came when the two Beckermet teams met. The girls stormed into a 4-1 lead, before the boys rallied, eventually going down 5-3.

St Columba's A sailed towards being champions as they beat their B-team and Beckermet boys, both 8-0.

The only stutter came when Posnett-Payne dropped the first set to Yates, but he recovered to maintain his unbeaten record.

Beckermet were under-11s girls champions unopposed.

The under-13s girls competition was a similar story to previous years, with St Bernard’s and Dowdales doing battle.

With two Barrow League juniors in their team, the hosts always looked favourites.

They soon showed the experience, as Rebecca Rigg, Chloe Irvine and Cerys Thompson all won their two matches without dropping sets. Mia Clark also gained a win.

The Dowdales quartet of Mischa Turner, Mica Banks, Eve Kirkby and Grace Doughty battled all the way. It was Doughty who gained their victory, defeating Clark in three sets.

The two Furness schools met again in the under-13s boys event, but to see who would finish as runners-up behind a formidable Kirkby Stephen Grammar School team.

Kirkby Stephen were led by Jake Haygarth, ranked at 23rd in England, and he remained undefeated throughout.

Their other wins came from Oliver Dixon, with three from four matches; Ben Allison, with three from three; Patrick Wolstenholme (two from three); and Harry Chapman-Davies (three from three).

The East Cumbrians defeated Dowdales 8-0 and St Bernard’s 6-2. Adam McLoughlin and Max Broadfoot both gained wins for the St Bernard’s.

When Dowdales played St Bernard’s, it was McLoughlin who staked his claim to be second in the county with wins against Lewis Taylor, in four sets, and Sol Arribas-Garthwaite, in straight sets.

In the opening match, Fraser Park, recently returned from a long injury lay-off took on another Barrow League junior in Arribas-Garthwaite. Park led 2-1 before his younger opponent won successive sets to seal the win.

Park did enjoy success against Lucas Seal, who in turn earned victory in five sets against Broadfoot.

The results put the match level at 3-3, before Taylor gave Dowdales the lead by beating Jai Pedley in four sets.

The tie was decided by the match of the day, between Max Bowman, for Dowdales, and Broadfoot, for St Bernard’s.

With the Bernard’s player needing to win to save the draw, an 11-5 first set was just what he wanted.

Bowman shot back into the match with an 11-8 set and then fired into the lead after a close 13-11 win in set three.

Broadfoot stood his ground in the fourth, another which went to deuce as he took it 15-13.

The deciding set had both sets of players watching on the edge of their benches, and at 10-10 it could have gone either way, before Bowman hit the target with the next two points for a Dowdales success.

There was also an under-13s boys B-team event, and again it was a meeting between Dowdales and St Bernard’s.

The Dowdales quartet of Charlie Webber, Mason Laisby, Luke Davey and Kaden Faragher ran out 7-1 winners against Shay Wright-McDonald, Seb Nigro, Albin Benu and Matthew McDonald. McDonald gained the sole win for St Bernard’s.