Overcoming a late-round loss and a pair of close games, the Olds College Broncos mixed curling rink captured the gold medal at the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) championship at Lakeland College in Vermilion on Feb. 23.Coach Barb Dixon said her squad, made up of skip Evan Swanson, thirdMichelle Lyckman, second Jared Rajotte and lead Shauna Bokenfohr, was evenly matched with the four teams that made it into the finals.Olds lost to the University of Alberta Augustana Vikings 6-3 in the one-two game but still had a chance to play for gold if they could beat Lakeland in a semifinal match.Dixon said her rink was down but rallied for a comeback and won the semifinal 6-5 in an extra end.In the championship game, a rematch with Augustana, the battle came down to the Vikings' skip's last rock, she said.“He sort of threw a little bit wide on a soft takeout and we won the game.”Augustana, Dixon added, played the Broncos hard at every turn and it was a hard-fought 6-5 victory for Olds.“They were wanting it pretty badly.”Rajotte and Swanson, who played on the college's men's team last year, ended up chosen as the ACAC all-conference second and skip, as chosen by participating coaches at the championship.Lyckman was the second on the Broncos' women's team last year leaving Bokenfohr as the team's only newcomer.Dixon, who is in her second year coaching curling at the college, said she will return to coach next year when the college hosts the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association championships.She'll have to put together a new team, however, as only Rajotte is returning since Swanson and Lyckman are graduating and Bokenfohr will undertake her continuing studies online.Asked why she believes the mixed team performed so well this year, Dixon said it all came down to the chemistry on the ice.“It was really exciting,” she said. “My team last year, they had gelled quite nicely together. This year, the four of them they're all good friends. It really is a team.”[email protected]
