A local team of junior curlers recently brought back a bronze medal from the Alberta Schools' Athletic Association High School Zones.
On the rink are Rachel Fiselier, skip; Victoria Taylor, third; McKenzie McElhinney, second; and Codi Wilson, lead; along with their coach Mac Walton. The team, which is playing together for its first year, travelled to Drumheller representing Sundre and Zone South/Central during the zones, which were held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27.
The junior curlers have been working hard with their coach and had a slow start to their weekend, but with each game they got stronger and ended the weekend with a 3-2 record and a bronze medal. The top two teams from zones go on to provincials. However, the local team was informed that due to a default and its zone standing that it had earned a berth to provincials, which were held from Thursday to Saturday, March 3-5 in Ponoka.
Team Fiselier had a good provincial experience. They suffered an extra end loss in their first game against Ponoka, but bounced back with a strong performance to beat Lethbridge 5-4 and then controlled their third game against Westlock with a 10-2 victory. Their two wins, one loss record placed them second in their pool and advanced them to the semi-final against Chauvin. They gave this older, more experienced team a good game, but Chavin advanced to the final. Team Fiselier then found themselves in the bronze medal match, which they lost to Ponoka. It was an excellent showing for this first-year team to end up in medal matches, and being as competitive as they were can only boost their confidence as they go forward and prepare for next year.
Additionally, the Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton hosted the Western Canada University Championships from Friday to Sunday, Feb. 26-28. Former Sundre junior curler Danielle Schmiemann, who was playing third for the University of Alberta Pandas, helped her team achieve a 3-1 record that was good enough to win the championship trophy and banner.
Also, former Sundre junior curler Parker Konschuh, who was playing lead for the University of Alberta Bears, had a perfect 4-0 record to claim the banner and trophy for the men's division.
Both teams will now head to Kelowna from Sunday to Wednesday, March 20-23 for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport association and the Canadian Curling Association National Championships in the hopes of earning the right to represent Canada at the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
