Men’s final by skips: Mike Farblelow (St. Paul, Minn. Curling Club) vs. Chad Carlson (Grand Forks, N.Dak. Curling Club)
Women’s final by skips: Margie Smith (St. Paul Curling Club) vs. Lori Karst (Madison, Wisconsin)

Semi-finals women’s results
In a veteran vs. youth match, the veterans won. Lori Karst’s Wisconsin rink, with Stephanie Radl Erstad, Shelley Pape and Martha Busse, beat Massachusetts’ Jillian Walker and her young charges, 8-4. The Broomstones Curling Club foursome range in age from 14 to 20. Karst, elated with the win, noted, “Our game plan was to play it as clean as we could (fewer rocks in play) and to keep them chasing us. We wanted to use our experience to capitalize when they made a mistake. They are very good players and we were impressed with their positive attitudes towards their teammates on the ice. We are in a good groove and intend to use the same game plan against Margie (Minnesota 2) in the final.” Karst’s Madison Curling Club rink got off to a 5-0 lead after five ends, then weathered deuces by Walker in the sixth and eighth ends to maintain control of the game. Team Massachusetts includes Jillian Walker, Laura Hallisey, Nikki Rossetti and Claire Leichter, and Coach Karyn Cousins (all from Boston area).

Wisconsin will play Margie Smith’s Minnesota 2 rink in the final. In an intra-state semi-final, Smith, of the host St. Paul Curling Club, beat Norma O’Leary’s Duluth Curling Club team 7-5, on the strength of a steal of one in the tenth and final end. Smith’s last shot, a guard, left O’Leary only a nearly impossible last shot, and there would be no miracle. In what could be considered a mild upset, Smith’s team avenged a loss to O’Leary in round robin play. Debbie Dexter (St. Paul vice-skip) was thrilled as she stepped off the ice. “I feel real good. We love ‘em (O’Leary and her team) but of course we want to win. We played well as a team today. We played the rocks, not the people.” The St. Paul curlers are Margie Smith (Shoreview, Minn.), Debbie Dexter (St. Paul, Minn.), Peggy Gazzola (Lakeville, Minn.), Jennifer Kamarainen (North St. Paul). The Duluth foursome are Norma O’Leary (of Silver Bay, Minn.) and Pam Cavers, Mary Johnson and Patti Luke of Duluth.

Semi-finals men’s results
In a bitter defeat, Jeff Wright’s Exmoor Curling Club (Ill.) foursome saw victory disappear when Wright’s last shot draw slid several inches too far in the tenth end to give North Dakota a steal of one and the win, 6-5. North Dakota skip Chad Carlson had drawn for second count to the front twelve foot to force Illinois to draw around to the eight foot. Team Wright had taken control of the game after they scored three points in the fifth end and one in the sixth, and until the last shot, Wright had played a very good game, notably a angle-raise tap back in the eighth end against three well-guarded North Dakota rocks, cutting a potential steal of three down to one and saving game control for Illinois. After Russ Brown’s double peel in the tenth end, Illinois seemed poised to win with the hammer advantage. North Dakota skip Chad Carlson felt his team could play better. “We look forward to playing better against Minnesota in the final. If we execute better, we can develop some offense.” Team North Dakota are from the Grand Forks Curling Club: Chad Carlson, Elton Brekke, Steve Staveteig, Richard Staveteig, and Coach Edward McEwan. Team Illinois includes Jeff Wright (Libertyville, Ill.), Nils Johansson (Highland Park, Ill.), Russ Brown (Lake Forest, Ill.), Ken Brown (Deerfield, Ill.), and Steve Waters (Evanston, Ill.).

Minnesota 1 beat Maryland, 6-3, to secure the other men’s finals berth. Mike Farbelow’s St. Paul rink played a solid game. Maryland skip Derak Surka played spectacular shots in the fourth and sixth ends to keep his team in the game. In the fourth end, without last rock and with Farbelow poised to get three points, he hit and rolled behind cover to force Farbelow to draw for one. In the sixth end, he made a difficult angle raise takeout for two points. Farbelow made a great run-back double take out in the ninth end to prevent a Maryland deuce, forcing Surka to blank the end, thus Minnesota came home three up and in firm control. Farbelow complimented Maryland, “They played some great shots.” Minnesota 1, from the St. Paul Curling Club, includes Mike Farbelow (Minneapolis, Minn.), Nick Myers (Eagan, Minn.), Tim Solin (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Tim Gartner (Eagan). Team Maryland curls out of the Potomac Curling Club in Laurel, and includes Derek Surka (Ellicott City, Md.), Michael Fry (Wheaton, Md.), Ronald Aubin (Columbia, Md.) and Michael Campbell (Catonsville, Md.).

Charrissa Lin, who skipped the women’s entry from Maryland to a fifth place finish, watched Team Surka fall but noted, “The curlers have had a great time here and applaud the efforts of Kent Beadle and his host committee. We are a young team. We met our goals, this week was good experience, we just wish we had one more win and had qualified for the semi-finals!”

The finals will start at 3:00 p.m.

Line scores: (* indicates hammer in first end)

Men’s semi-finals
Farbelow (MN1)* 100 120 200 x 6
Surka (MD) 010 002 000 x 3

Carlson (ND)* 000 200 210 1 6
Wright (IL) 001 031 000 0 5

Women’s semi-finals
Walker (MA)* 000 002 020 x 4
Karst (WI) 102 110 102 x 8

O’Leary (MN1)* 002 010 200 0 5
Smith (MN2) 110 101 011 1 7

Women's round robin standings:
MN1 8-1 Q#1
MA 7-2 Q#2
WI 6-3 Q#3
MN2 6-3 Q#4
MD 5-4
ND1 5-4
IL 4-5
ND2 3-6
CA 1-8
TX 0-9

Men's round robin standings:
MN1 9-0 Q#1
ND 8-1 Q#2
IL 7-2 Q#3
MD 6-4 Q#4
WI 5-5
MN2 4-5
MI 2-7
TX 2-7
WA 2-7
OR 1-8

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.

For more information: Terry Kolesar Luder, USA Curling, terry.luder@usacurl.org, 715-344-1199