The long road to provincial curling success
It is a long road to win a provincial high school curling championship.
Three years ago, after a long hiatus, a KSS boys’ curling team was formed with Ramsay Murray (Grade 10 skip), Logan Miron (Grade 10 third), Ewan Murray (Grade 10 second), Cam Bridge (Grade 12 lead) and coach Beth Cody.
A great deal of fundraising took the team to win the regional championship in Kamloops and then to Creston to take fifth in the B.C. School Sports provincial high school curling championships.
In the following season (2015-16), Bryan Cresswell (Grade 11 lead) replaced the graduated Cam Bridge and the team went undefeated through the regionals and placed sixth in the provincial championship in Vancouver.
This past season (2016-17), new coach Justin Nillson re-tooled the team, with Logan Miron (Skip), Ewan Murray (Third), Ramsay Murray (Second) and Bryan Cresswell (Lead).
Again undefeated at the regionals, the now-veteran unit was once again ready to take on the competition at the 2017 provincial championship in Smithers.
On Tuesday, February 2, the team embarked on a two-day, 1,050 kilometre road trip to Smithers.
Provincial competition started early Thursday morning and, unfortunately, the boys lost their first game in an extra end. However, the team won its next six games quite handily to claim the B.C. School Sports high school curling provincial championship banner and a massive granite trophy.
They represented KSS and the Kelowna curling community with maturity and showed great skills through the roundrobin tournament.
It is extremely challenging to win a provincial high school title in any sport. Many factors must align for a team to be successful at any level. The KSS boys’ three-year journey resulted in an exciting provincial championship and a satisfying finish. The young KSS girls’ team have just started its journey to a championship title, but with a bronze medal already under their belt, they’re well on their way! Watch for a feature on their success soon.