B.C.’s top junior curlers eye trips to nationals

There’ll be a little extra on the line on the men’s side of the B.C. Junior Women’s and Men’s Curling Championships starting today at the Victoria Curling Club.

While only the champion on the junior women’s side will represent B.C. at next month’s New Holland Canadian Junior Championships in Langley, the top two rinks on the men’s side will advance to the national championships at George Preston Recreation Centre in Langley thanks to Nunavut withdrawing from the competition.

Battling for one of those elusive two spots on the junior men’s side is Island skip Chris Parkinson and his crew of Matthew Davies, Christian Klein-Beekman and Connor Litton, who hail from Nanaimo, Parksville and Comox Valley.

Rounding out the junior men’s side is Hayato Sato (Royal City), Dawson Ballard (Langley), Brayden Carpenter (Tunnel Town), Johnson Tao (Vancouver), Erik Colweel(Vernon/Kamloops/Grand Forks), Thomas Reed (Golden Ears/Royal City) and Colorado Marr (Kamloops).

On the junior women’s side, defending champion Sarah Daniels of Delta Thistle returns, and aiming to dethrone Daniels is the Gracelyn Richards rink of Keelie Duncan, Bryn Woloshyn and Kate Eisner who hail from Comox Valley and Port Moody.

Elizabeth Bowles of Delta Thistle also has some Island flavour to her rink with Victoria sisters Kayla and Sasha Wilson on board, as does Rebecca Douglas’s squad, with Brooke Reintjes, Delaena Reintjes and Bella Higdon of Duncan and Victoria.

Rounding out the junior women’s side is Jensen Taylor (Tunnel Town/Royal City), Maeve Calhoun (Kamloops), Holly Hafeli (Kamloops) and Kaila Buchy (Kimberley/Kelowna/Vernon).

Action gets underway today with draws at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The event wraps with the championship matches on Thursday at 10 a.m.