CHAMPIONSHIPS
Team USA named for 2016 Youth Olympic Games
By Terry L. Davis, Editor,
terry.davis@usacurl.org
try to score a point to send the game to an extra end as the 2016 U.S. Youth Olympic Team Trials for Curling came to a close on Nov. 8. Violette (Lake Stevens, Wash.) and teammates Cora Farrell (Fairbanks,
T
Alaska), Benjamin Richardson (Issaquah, Wash.), and Cait Flannery (Mankato, Minn.) defeated Fenson’s Minnesota team in the second cham- pionship final at the Four Seasons Curling Club in Blaine, Minn., and will now represent the United States at February’s 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Norway. Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.) and his team of Christine McMakin (St. Paul,
Minn.), Graem Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.), and Allison Howell (Bentleyville, Ohio) had less than 10 seconds on their time clock and the skip sprinted up the sheet and got in the hack but couldn’t deliver the stone over the teeline before the clock displayed zero. Te result is an automatic forfeit. Te game had been a good battle between the two teams who had played
earlier in the day and returned to the ice an hour later to decide the cham- pionship aſter Fenson’s team won the first match. (Te event had a two-loss provision and Violette's team entered the two-team playoffs undefeated). Fenson’s team took a point in the first end and then forced Violette into a tough draw that was a little heavy and the Fenson rink stole a point to go up 2-0. Violette’s squad was forced to take a point in the third end and du- plicated what Fenson’s team did earlier and stole the fourth end to put the game in a tie situation at the break. In the fiſth end, the Fenson rink was forced into taking a point but then
got stones positioned well around the four-foot in the sixth end to hold their Washington opponent to a single point. Te game turned in favor of Wash- ington in the seventh end, however, as they capitalized on half shots to steal a point when Fenson’s final stone was wide. Violette’s team played solid in the eighth end and had the Fenson rink
chasing. It wasn’t until McMakin’s second vice skip stone that they had a workable stone in the four-foot to try to set up a deuce. Violette answered with two solid rocks to force Fenson into making a draw to the button to try to score a point to put the game into an extra end. With the clock ticking down and the distance down the sheet too far, Fenson couldn’t get there in time. Te Violette rink, now Team USA, will compete in traditional mixed
games as well as mixed doubles at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Lillehammer, Norway, Feb. 12-21. “To win the YOG trials and represent the U.S. in Norway is an incred-
ible honor,” said Farrell, 16. “My teammates and I knew we would have to remain determined in reaching our goals because the competition was so fierce. Now that we have the opportunity to serve as Team USA, we are even more motivated and ready to prepare for the YOG in February. I am looking forward to the remarkable times that will follow.”
USA Curling (( 13
ime – oſten an overlooked thing to a curling bystander. But, time was the unofficial fiſth man for Seattle’s Luc Violette rink as Riley Fenson’s team couldn’t get the final shot of the game off in time to
Team USA (above, l-r) Luc Violette, Cora Farrell, Benjamin Richardson, and Cait Flannery. Te team (below) in action at the YOG Team Trials. Photos by Rich Harmer for USA Curling
Luc Violette (Lake Stevens, Wash.) Riley Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.) Michael Elwing (Brookfield, Wis.) Chase Sinnett (Medfield, Mass.) Eli Clawson (Clarksville, Md.) Jonathon Harstad (Duluth, Minn.)
Violette *Fenson
Violette *Fenson
ROUND ROBIN STANDINGS 5-0 4-1 2-3 2-3 1-4 1-4
CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL #1: 002 000 11 – 4
020 300 00 – 5 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL #2: 001 101 1** – W (win by forfeit) 110 010 0** – L
*last rock in first end **the Fenson team ran out of time in the 8th end. By rule, the game is marked as a forfeit loss.
Team USA will compete at Lillehammer Curling Arena against 16 other
countries. Teams, which are composed of two girls and two boys ranging in ages from 14 to 17, will be placed into two pools of eight for a preliminary round robin to determine the playoff contenders. Aſter the mixed portion concludes, all team members will then be paired with an athlete from an- other country to compete in mixed doubles for an additional chance at a medal. USA’s Korey Dropkin (Southborough, Mass.) won bronze for the U.S. in 2012 in mixed doubles at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games. Te U.S. will be seeking its first team medal. Te 2016 U.S. Youth Olympic Curling Team is subject to approval by the United States Olympic Committee. Q
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