CHAMPIONSHIPS Round robin standings:


Men: Pennsylvania (Scott Dunnam) Washington (Jake Vukich)


2014 U.S. junior national champions (l-r) Cory Chris- tensen, Mackenzie Lank, Anna Bauman, Anna Hop- kins, Sonja Bauman, and Coach Linda Christensen.


Massachusetts (Korey Dropkin) Minnesota (Ethan Meyers) Pennsylvania (Daniel Dudt) North Dakota (Brandon Scheel) Michigan (Wesley Pedersen) Minnesota (Daniel Plys) Wisconsin (Clay Osterhaus) Alaska (Alhrik Schommer)


2014 U.S. junior national champions (l-r) Coach Tra- vis Way, Jake Vukich, Evan McAuley, Luc Violette, and Kyle Lorvick.


Minnesota girls, Washington boys capture national junior titles


By Terry Kolesar, Editor


feating the Scott Dunnam rink, 7-5, in the men’s final of the 2014 USA Curling Junior National Championships at the Granite Curling Club. In the women’s division, Cory Christensen


S


(Duluth, Minn.) led her team to a last-rock win over Sarah Anderson (Broomall, Pa.) to earn her second junior title. Vukich (Seattle) and teammates Evan McAu-


ley (Sammamish, Wash.), Luc Violette (Granite Falls, Wash.), and Kyle Lorvick (Seattle) never trailed against Dunnam’s rink, maintaining con- trol throughout and stealing points when they could. Te game was tied 2-2 aſter four ends when Vukich’s rink took over the game from Dunnam (Dresher, Pa.) and teammates Andrew Stopera (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.), Steven Szemple (Edison, N.J.), and Andrew Dunnam (Dresher, Pa). Leading 4-2 aſter six ends, the Vukich rink


capitalized in the seventh aſter a key miss by Pennsylvania with the final stone, resulting in a steal of two points for the Washington junior men. Te Seattle team then stole a single when Dunnam missed a tough runback with the final stone of the eighth end. Dunnam’s team finally got back on the scoreboard with three points in the ninth to attempt a rally. However, in the final end with the last-rock advantage favoring Vu- kich’s team, Washington closed out the victory, set up by Violette with a runback that cleared all the stones out of the house early on. Christensen and teammates Mackenzie Lank


(Lewiston, N.Y.), Anna Bauman (Duluth, Minn.), Anna Hopkins (Bismarck, N.D.), with alternate Sonja Bauman (Duluth, Minn.), also controlled most of its match against Anderson and team-


10 usacurl.org ))


eattle’s Jake Vukich rink took advantage of home ice to earn their first trip to the World Junior Championships aſter de-


mates Katie Dubberstein (Portage, Wis.), Taylor Anderson (Broomall, Pa.), and Leilani Dubber- stein (Portage, Wis.). Tey never trailed but had to keep holding off rallies by the Anderson rink, which finished fourth last year at Junior Nation- als. In the seventh end, Anderson’s team was able


to score two points to tie the game, 5-5. Chris- tensen’s rink stole back the game’s momentum, however, when they executed a tough tapback for two points to take a 7-5 lead with two ends to play. Anderson’s rink once again tied the game by playing a smart ninth end that resulted in a deuce. In the 10th


end, the Anderson rink was unable


to take advantage of a miss by the Christensen rink. Anderson’s final stone sunk a little deeper into the rings than the team had anticipated, giv- ing Christensen a basic draw into the four-foot for the win. Te Vukich and Christensen rinks went on


to represent the U.S. at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Flims, Switzerland, where the ladies finished sixth and the men were ninth. For the full story on the world junior championships, see the bonus pages in the digital edition. n


Women: Pennsylvania (Sarah Anderson) Minnesota (Cory Christensen) Wisconsin (Jenna Haag) Washington (Shelby Sweet)


7-2 7-2 6-3 6-3 5-4 5-4 4-5 3-6 2-7 0-9


8-1 8-1 7-2


North Dakota (Abigayle Lindgren) 5-4 Maryland (Christine McMakin) Michigan (Sidney Schroeder) Alaska (Kaitlin Fowler)


Minnesota (Courtney Osbakken) 1-8 Minnesota (Melissa Runing)


1-8 *won two tiebreakers to advance to playoffs


Curtis Cup for Sportsmanship Award winners: Team Pennsylvania: Sarah Anderson, Katie Dubber-


stein, Taylor Anderson, Leilani Dubberstein Team Minnesota: Daniel Plys, Noah Fiskness, Wesley


Leksell, Ryan Riihinen, Jesse Jaeger Katie Beck Memorial Award recipient: Emma Bro- menschenkel, Minnesota


Page Playoffs, 1 v. 2: *Anderson Christensen


*Vukich Dunnam


Page Playoffs, 3 v. 4: *Haag Sweet


*Meyers Dropkin


Semifinals: *Anderson Haag


*Vukich Dropkin


Finals: *Christensen Anderson


*Dunnam Vukich


*last rock in first end


010 200 101 x – 5 103 020 010 x – 7


201 001 001 x – 5 020 130 100 x – 7


000 111 041 x – 8 121 000 100 x – 5


100 030 000 x – 4 001 102 122 x – 9


002 001 001 13 – 8 000 300 020 00 – 5


012 003 04x x – 10 000 010 20x x – 3


202 001 020 1 –8 010 020 202 0 – 7


001 100 003 x – 5 110 011 210 x – 7


5-4* 5-4


3-6 2-7


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