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Minnesota men sole undefeated team at Club Nationals
By David Garber // USA Curling // March 9, 2007
(ST. PAUL, Minn.) – Mike Farbelow’s Minnesota 1 men’s team has played superbly all week. This afternoon, they handed North Dakota’s Chad Carlson rink it’s first defeat of the round robin, 6-2. The win leaves the St. Paul Curling Club team in sole possession of first place at 7-0. Farbelow’s team includes Nick Myers, Tim Solin and Tim Gartner. Chad Carlson was affable after the tough loss. “This tournament gets tougher every year. It’s nice to see the southern teams from the newer clubs. Now, we have two very tough games coming up, against Medure and Marquardt. We are confident.” Carlson and his “NoDak” teammates’ are members of the Grand Forks Curling Club—the same club that produced the two women’s teams here. When asked why all Grand Forks, Chad said, “We had 13 men’s teams from all over North Dakota play down to be here. Minnesota had 16 in their field, so under the USCA formula, they got the extra berth to fill to a ten team field here.”
Derek Surka’s Maryland foursome rebounded from a loss this morning and stayed in the playoff hunt with an 11-3 win over Texas, clinching with a score of five in the eighth end. Surka curls with Potomac Curling Club teammates Michael Fry, Ron Aubin and Michael Campbell. The Texans, who represent the Dallas/Ft. Worth Curling Club, include Scott Powrie, Serge Poissant, Andy Bahr, Dan Johnson and Mike Hunter (the latter doubles as club president). When asked about the impact of the Club Nationals, Hunter grinned and said, “This week, not good, because the 10 of us here, men and women, are nearly a quarter of the club membership so our league play will have many forfeited games this week.”
Arnie Iwanick’s Evergreen Curling Club team, representing Oregon, earned their first win of the week, 9-3, over David Loan’s Detroit Curling Club team. Iwanik curls with Sean Henry, Jeff Tomlinson, Craig Webster and Garry Stasiuk. Loan’s teammates are Chad Roberts, Steve Scheffler, David Pietrangelo and Ryan Moore.
Women’s results
The young Massachusetts women won their second straight big game, this time beating Wisconsin, 9-5, on the strength of two three-ends in a row late in the game. This same (with one key exception) Broomstones Curling Club rink won the silver medal at the past two USCA Junior Nationals (juniors must be age 21 and under). “We all stayed positive after we gave up s steal of three to go three down. We came back with a three-end to tie, then stole three ourselves to go ahead. The Massachusetts curlers hail from the Broomstones Curling Club in Wayland, near Boston (Jillian Walker, Laura Hallisey, Nikki Rossetti and Claire Leichter). Team Wisconsin, now in fourth place at 5-2, includes Lori Karst, Stephanie Radl Erstad, Shelley Pape and Martha Busse.
The “key exception” to the change on Team Massachusetts from Junior Nationals to Club Nationals is an interesting story. For this competition, Massachusetts coach Karyn Cousins made an unusual move in switching lead Jillian Walker, to skip. “Our regular skip is Monica Walker, Jillian’s sister, Monica was asked to be fifth player for Team USA at the junior worlds. Our team already had planned to make this switch if ever forced by sickness or injury. We are pleased this is working so well!” The Junior World Curling Championships are currently taking place about 200 miles north of St. Paul, in Eveleth, Minn.
In a second game with special interest, North Dakota 2 beat North Dakota 1, 11-9, in a high scoring but closely contested game. North Dakota 2 was the underdog, but their first win of the week knocked their fellow Grand Forks curlers to 4-4, which nearly, but not quite, knocks them out of medal contention. North Dakota 1 must win its last game, and Wisconsin must lose its last two. If that happens, both would finish 5-4 and would play again in a tiebreak game for fourth place. Heidi Spicer skips North Dakota 2, and plays with Susan Stern, Denise Bower-Johnson, Gail Ingwalson and Jean Voracheck. North Dakota 1 includes Beth Bohlman, Dawn Zimney, Amy Bushaw, Nancy Rentfrow and Ann Herbeck.
In other women’s action, Minnesota 1 beat Illinois 11-4. The Duluth Curling Club players are Norma O’Leary, Pam Cavers, Mary Johnson and Patti Luke. Team Illinois includes Marcy Callaway, Tracy Lawless, Leslie Earls and Jennifer Anderson. Minnesota 2 (Margie Smith rink, St. Paul) beat Texas (Judy Willingham rink, Dallas/Ft. Worth) 11-2.
Line scores: (* indicates hammer in first end)
Powrie (TX)* 100 000 20x x 3
Surka (MD) 011 211 05x x 11
Loan (MI)* 001 000 20x x 3
Iwanick (OR) 110 421 00x x 9
Farbelow (MN1)* 101 011 11x x 6
Carlson (ND) 000 200 00x x 2
Karst (WI)* 011 012 000 x 5
Walker (MA) 100 100 331 x 9
O’Leary (MN1)* 230 130 2xx x 11
Calaway (IL) 002 002 0xx x 4
Bohlman (ND1)* 201 000 330 0 9
Spicer (ND2) 050 121 001 1 11
Smith (MN2)* 410 111 2xx x 10
Willingham (TX) 001 000 0xx x 1
Women's standings:
MA 7-1
MN1 7-1
MN2 6-2
WI 5-2
ND1 4-4
IL 3-4
MD 3-4
CA 1-6
ND2 1-6
TX 0-7
Men's standings:
MN1 7-0
ND 6-1
IL 5-2
WI 5-2
MD 5-3
MN2 4-3
TX 2-6
WA 1-6
OR 1-6
MI 0-7
USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics, AmerAust Technologies and Nike as well as by AT&T, General Motors, The Home Depot, and Bank of America through a joint marketing program with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
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