Dedicated curling team moves on to Regionals
The Swift Current Comprehensive High School curling team was in Leader for Districts on February 8. The four teams that were sent all did exceptionally well, with all of them placing in the top three of their respective categories.
Two of the teams were able to secure the first place medals and qualify for Regionals. The two teams that advanced were a Senior Mixed team and a Senior Boys team.
The Senior Mixed team is compiled of three grade 12’s and one grade 10, it is lead by skip Rachel Schlechter. Her fellow teammates are Cole Wiebe, Kassidy Painchaud and Colby Latimer. The team looks forward to competing in Rosetown for Regionals on February 28-29.
The Senior Boys team skip is Beau Cornelson, along with his teammates Dusty Cherpin, Carson Funk and Zander Rommelaire. All four of the players from Team Cornelson are in grade 11.
While the Mixed team is in Rosetown, the Senior Boys team will be in Outlook.
One of the SCCHS curling team coaches, Ron Bailey, spoke up about the teams’ progress throughout the year; “All our teams have worked hard at practice all year long with help from all five coaches and the rest of their teammates. Our year has already been a success. We are hosting high school regionals and provincials next winter so it would be a bonus for our program to get to the championship this year.” Bailey continues on about how much the students are enjoying the club; “They are very excited to continue their high school curling careers.”
JJ Zummack, a student and a proud curler at SCCHS, mentioned how vital the coaches are to the club and how being under their tutelage has helped them improve their skills. “I think Swift Current has really good coaches, to the point where it set a bar so high that other teams were afraid to play against us.”
Curling gives each of the students a chance to prove their strategic prowess and patience within the sport. The main focus during practice is to perfect form and evolving tactical game plans.
The students have shown a rather dedicated work ethic as of late, seeing as they’ve had many practices in the last few weeks in preparation for these upcoming competitions. Some of the students even spend their own leisure time at the rink.
Beau Cornelson, the skip and team leader of his rink, went on about what the upcoming events mean to him and his fellow curlers. “Regionals will be tough but we have been practicing a lot and feel like we are ready. We are looking forward to playing against new teams we have never met, and we are hoping to achieve our goal of going on to provincials.”
If either of the teams make it to provincials, they would get to play again on March 6-7. The Mixed team would go to Spiritwood while the Boys tournament would be held in Meadow Lake.