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Groundwater, Graden, claim joint bonspiel titles

Just days after Canada won Olympic curling gold medals, members of the Williams Lake Curling Club were looking to claim titles of their own.
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Williams Lake third Roger Kaleta (right) and lead Don Coombes sweep a shot from skip Gary Stene of Penticton toward the house in the men’s ‘A’ final of the Williams Lake Curling Club’s Joint Bonspiel

Just days after Brad Jacobs and Jennifer Jones skipped Canada to Olympic curling gold medals, members of the Williams Lake Curling Club were looking to claim titles of their own.

The annual Men’s and Ladies’ Joint Bonspiel, held over the weekend at the WLCC from Feb. 21-23, saw 16 ladies’ teams and eight men’s teams square off in the first local bonspiel of the season.

Teams played down in a bracket-style draw to determine seedings into each of an ‘A,’ ‘B,’ and ‘C,’ division.

On the ladies’ ‘A’ side it was the Simone Groundwater rink of Laura Ball (third), Yvonne Leclerc (second) and Jessica Ball (lead) edging the Paige Gudbranson rink of Michelle Ball (third), Erin Frederick (second) and Debbie Rand (lead) 9-4 after six ends.

For the men’s ‘A’ title Kamloops’ Ron Graden (better known by local curlers as Dr. Love), Steve Day (third), Williams Lake’s Todd Jensen (second) and lead Dale Luck hammered the Roger Kaleta (third) rink of Gary Stene (skip, Penticton), Bruce Jacques (second) and Don Coombes (lead).

The ‘B’ event saw Williams Lake’s Leona Mckay defeat the Barb Hodder rink from Ashcroft, while the men’s ‘B’ final featured a tight draw between Williams Lake’s Mark Law and Robert Gudbranson rinks.

Law, Rick Formo (third), Colin Smith (second) and Mike Pederson (lead) managed to edge the Gudbranson rink of Ryan Folz (third), Mike Gatenby (second) and Frank Giesbrecht (lead).

In the ‘C’ event the local Ken Teskey rink of Ken Kvist (third), Steve Kozuki (second) and Bill Fawcett (lead) beat Ian Lanki’s rink of Dave Whitwell (third), Darrell Swan (second) and John Hoyrup (lead).

And on the ladies’ ‘C’ side it was Quesnel’s Evelyn Lawson rink defeating Liz Salle’s rink from Williams Lake.

Next up for the WLCC is the Open Mixed Bonspiel from March 15-17.

 



Greg Sabatino

About the Author: Greg Sabatino

Greg Sabatino graduated from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops with a Bachelor of Journalism degree in 2008.
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