The Yorkton Regional High School (YRHS) hosted the East Central District (ECD) senior high school curling playdowns at the Yorkton Curling Club (YCC) over the weekend.
Bonspiel coordinator, YRHS curling coach, Grant Bjornerud, says 13 teams in boys', girls' and mixed categories took to the ice Friday to compete for a berth at the regional playdowns and possibly move on to provincial playoffs in Regina in March. The top two teams in each division coming out of the double knockout competition at districts will earn a berth at regional playdowns, Bjornerud reports.
Participation this year is down a bit, Bjornerud admits. "In years past we were up to 20 teams," he recalls. The numbers have been declining over the past few years. He hopes that junior bonspiels with Grades 7,8,9 teams attract more young players to the sport to get back up to the 20 teams that used to enter.
The YRHS teams did well, Bjornerud says. The boys and mixed teams won their A-side. The girls, a young Grade 10 team who played very well, were knocked out Friday. Now that they girls have some experience, the team shows some promise. They should do well next year if they choose to return, says Bjornerud.
He credits the coaches at the various schools for developing some very good curlers. "Hopefully it continues to be as good or better in years to come," Bjornerud closes.
Weekend results of the ECD playdowns were:
Girls' golds medalists, Esterhazy High School senior girls, coaches Kristy Rushinko, Penny Kulcsar, lead Courtney Bartok, second Kelsey Shepherd, third Katelyn Kirby, skip Tennille Kulcsar.
Girls' silver medalists, Preeceville High School, lead Amanda Hall, lead Tess Maier, second Katelynn Draper, third Taylor Thompson, skip Kira Olson, coaches Tim Olson, Tonilee Sefton.
Boys' gold medalists, YRHS senior boys, lead Ryan Nagy, second Blaze Davie, lead/second Brandon Campbell, third Brennen Peleshytyk, skip Paul Toth, coach Granr Bjornerud.
Boys' silver medalists, Invermay School, lead Dustin Dunbar, second Cody Hanson, third Kevin Mikkonen, skip Nicholas Redman, coach Ron Adair.
Mixed team gold medalists, Norquay High School, coach Ken Newell, lead Callie Holodniuk, second Jorden Cherewyk, third Allyson Grywacheski, skip Zachary Newell.
