Ocean Smart is a name anyone familiar with curling in the Battlefords would recognize.
Smart was one of the Battlefords' top high school curlers while she attended John Paul II. Now, at Lakeland College, Smart is continuing to prove she is an elite young curler.
The Lakeland College Ladies' curling team secured its spot in provincials with a tiebreaker win Sunday night. ??
After seven games the ladies were tied with Augustana and Concordia for the final provincial spot. A draw to the button competition held after the first game of the weekend put Lakeland and Augustana in a tie for the number one tiebreaker seed. Each team had 15 points and it came down to skip rocks where Smart posted four points to Augustanas 0. That gave Lakeland a bye into the second tiebreaker.
In the final game, Lakeland held the hammer, tied up coming home. On her first rock, faced with an opponent rock buried back at the back of the four foot, Smart made a tough draw to the side of the button to lay one. Concordia's skip tried to follow her down the same path, but was just wide and Lakeland earned the win in Leduc, Alta.
"The ladies' team started off slow at the fall regional but really brought it together as the weekend went on," said coach Chirs McQuid of the team after they qualified for provincials. "They have a ton of potential and just need to continue to work hard to realize it."
The victory for Smart and her teammates Whitney Dagg of Tisdale, Shelby Nichol of Livelong and Rheane Barker of Kyle, advance to provincials in Camrose, Alta. later this month. From there the winner advances to nationals in Peterborough, Ont. at the end of March.
Lakeland curling runs in Smart's family, as her brother skipped the men's team to the 2006-07 and '07-08 provincial championships.
