The Yorkton Curling Club (YCC) and Yorkton Regional High School (YRHS) hosted the senior high school district curling playdowns over the weekend. The double knockout event, co-coordinated by YRHS teachers Cindy Smith and Lana Stanek-Sebastian, featured the senior high school girls', boys' and mixed curling teams in the district.
This year 14 rinks including six girls' teams, five boys' and three mixed teams played to earn a berth at regional playdowns on the way to provincial competition, reports Smith. The two top teams in each division will advance to regionals this weekend, Smith adds.
The curlers at this event are all extremely good curlers from Grades 10, 11, 12 with one or two AP players from a junior league, Smith states. Some have a lot of high school and elementary curling experience, she notes. Many come from families with a strong curling background, she suggests.
The YRHS has a team in each division, boys', girls' and mixed, Smith reports. Teams include the Toth rink for the boys, the Onda-Inglis rink for the mixed team and the Ratushniak rink for the girls' team. The YRHS teams have the benefit of Gerald Shymko's curling experience as team coach, she points out.
Boys' regional playdowns will take place in Foam Lake. The girls will play at Raymore and the mixed division will playoff at Strasbourg.
Smith appreciates the assistance of the YCC as well as sponsors Yorkton Co-op, Shymko Farms, Yorkton Rotary Club, the Ratushniak Family, the YRHS SRC and Superstore.
The number of teams entered was down this year but the quality of the curling was excellent, Smith claims. "The crowd was well entertained," Smith closes.
The Esterhazy girls team of skip Courtney Bertok, third Jade Kerr, second Jasmine Kerr, lead Brittany Lee and coach Charlene Scharnatta- Kerr won the gold medal. Sacred Heart claimed the silver medal while YRHS took home the bronze medal. Esterhazy and Sacred Heart advance to the regional playdowns at Raymore.
The YRHS senior boys curling team of skip Paul Toth, third Darren Tillman and third Bren-nan Pelechetek, second Brian Nagy, and lead Brandon Campbell claimed the gold medal for the boys' division. The team was coached by Lana Stanek-Sebastian, Cindy Smith and Gerald Shymko.
Winning skip Paul Toth says the team tried to play aggressively, forcing the opposing teams to make shots by keeping pressure on them. The team played good draws throughout the weekend, he adds. "It was a little nerve racking going to an extra end," Toth admits.
The Esterhazy boys' rink were runners up with a silver medal to advance to regional playdowns, while Preeceville claimed the bronze medal.
The mixed division title and gold medal went to the Melville rink of skip Jayden Gerhardt, third Cassidy Ottenbreit, second Aaron Haas and lead Keigan Duczek and alternates Kelsey Schultz and Mitchell Dales. Team coaches were Stuart Wilson and Chris Lansford.
Skip Jayden Gerhardt says the weekend was tiring with three games Friday and three more Saturday, but it was fun. He says his strategy was to put up stones in front of the house then burying others behind them. If there was a possibility, he'd call for a raise takeout. An injury caused the team to have alternate Kelsey Schutz to come in and she along with the others played great, Gerhardt states. He suggests the team will definitely have to play well at the regional playdowns in Strasbourg.
Runners up Preeceville, who claimed the silver medal, will join Melville at regional playdowns while Sturgis claimed the bronze medal.
