Another gold medal is hanging up in the trophy case at the Yorkton Regional High School. A medal might not be as pretty as a large, shiny, heavy trophy but it serves similar purpose.
After a year last year when the YRHS came out in the top three of almost every bonspiel they had participated in a year ago today, the youngest students in the school helped add to the school's curling domination.
Following their win at a juniors bonspiel held over the weekend at the Yorkton Curling Club, solo coach Grant Bjornerud, coached four Gr. 9 students who had little if any experience going into the tournament.
They came away with gold medals around their necks following their victory at the end against the rink from Kamsack.
Led by skip Graham Campbell, the team cruised through the round robin. Lisa Maddaford at second, Lindsey Harvey, third and lead Kelsey Campbell, outlasted all of their competition.
"It was fun," said Campbell at the end, following some photo sessions on the Yorkton Curling Club ice.
He said the best part was "getting to play a bunch of different teams."
He added that his expectations were for no less than a podium finish.
"Yeah, we had some high hopes," he said.
Bjornerud, who's been left at the helm of the YRHS curling program, gets some help from volunteers at the bonspiels, but was left to do much of the work on his own following the departure of Larry Folk, who left the YRHS last spring.
The tournament saw a total of 68 games get played out over the course of two-and-a-half days, says Bjornerud. Twenty-eight teams took part, including a handful from Yorkton, but some made the trip in from areas such as Springside, Esterhazy, Invermay and Kamsack.
It was the 10th annual tournament that the YCC has hosted for the juniors and Bjornerud said he definitely likes what he sees because the tournament helps to promote the sport of curling at the age where it probably does need as much exposure as it can possibly get.
"It's (become) a tradition over the past 10 years," he said following the medal presentation Saturday. "Curling's in big need of younger curlers throughout the province," he stated.
"There's some good teachers and coaches," he noted.
With the oldest players in the tournament being the Gr. 9 students, Bjornerud said the calibre of the curlers is not reflected in any way by anyone's age.
"Definitely (not)," he told the paper..."people would be surprised at the level of curling here. (The kids) understand the game very well."
He made a point of noting the skip on the winning boys' team had made some nearly impossible shots in the match that won their team the gold on Saturday.
With the departure of Folk from the YRHS program, that leaves Bjornerud in sole control of everything curling at the Yorkton Regional High School.
He bashfully admitted that the work done at the weekend tournament was mostly him doing it; with one person in charge of more than one team, the work level shoots up.
"Now it's more time consuming (without Larry)."
Bjornerud said that the skill of some of the youngest curlers in the city kind of makes up for that, then he started talking about junior skip Campbell.
"He understands the game quite well. We were consistent all weekend long."
YRHS won gold in the mixed division. They were challenged by: Sacred Heart, Invermay, Kamsack I and II, Yorkdale, Langenburg, Columbia School and YRHS II. Campbell's YRHS I squad finished in first with 98 points. Invermay finished the standings in second with 64 points.
Winning on the boys' side was the Preeceville Panthers' Jess Olson, Jordon Dyky, Shawn Pasiechnik and Jesse Antonichuk. On the girls' side, Esterhazy's team of Brittany Lee, Jasmine Kerr, Jade Kerr and Sarah Moore, came out on top.
