Two of Sundre's former junior curling members recently represented the University of Alberta at the Kelowna Curling Club, which hosted the 2016 CIS/Curling Canada University Championships March 20-23.
Both Parker Konschuh and Danielle Schmeimann came home with a medal.
The U of A Bears, whose lead is Konschuh, dominated the seven game round robin play going undefeated. By placing first in the round robin, they were to meet fourth-place Brock Badgers in the semifinal.
The team again had a strong showing and defeated Brock 9-3 in eight ends. They then were set to play Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in the final. Unfortunately for the Bears, the strong play they had executed throughout the spiel was just not present for the CIS final and Wilfrid Laurier had its best game of the event.
After nine ends, the teams shook hands and the Bears suffered their first loss 7-4, which earned the team silver medals.
The U of A Pandas, whose third is Schmiemann, opened their round robin play with a 10-6 loss to Dalhousie, but they came back to play solidly until their last round robin game, which they lost 10-4 to Thompson Rivers WolfPack. The Pandas' record of five wins and two losses during the round robin ranked them fourth and their semifinal game was against the first-place Guelph Gryphons.
The semi was a tight battle but the Pandas advanced to the final with an 8-6 win. The Pandas faced Thompson Rivers, who they had lost against during round robin play. The final was a great battle and the Pandas dug deep to score one in 10 to take their game to an extra end.
The opposing skip just missed making her tap back and the Pandas stole the point to win the CIS National Championship.
The U of A Pandas will represent Canada at the World University Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan in February 2017. With their consistently strong play during the round robin, Konschuh and Schmiemann were both named to the second all-star teams.
