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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 21, 2005
Youth, experience meet at Olympic
Trials
(MADISON, Wis.) – Youth took on experience in two
marquee games at the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for
Curling Monday night, and the results seem to show that
women’s curling in the USA is standing on solid ice
right now no matter which way you look.
2002 World Junior Champion Cassie Johnson’s team
eclipsed 2003 World Women’s Champion Debbie McCormick’s
rink in an extra end, 7-5. In another extra-end game,
Patti Lank’s 1999 World silver medalists held off 2004
World Junior semifinalist Aileen Sormunen’s rink.
The Lank and Johnson teams remain unbeaten (5-0) and
lead the 10-team field with the halfway point of the
round robin behind them. The top four finishers will
qualify for semifinals, set for Friday at the Madison
Curling Club.
"We’re feeling pretty confident right now," said
Johnson, 23, a student at Bemidji State University.
"We’re pretty much on track now, and just need to keep
taking one game at a time."
Whenever the Johnson and McCormick teams meet, the
end result is usually a one- or two-point margin.
McCormick’s team held a two-point lead after stealing a
single in the second end, but the game was tied three
times thereafter, including in the 10th, when
McCormick drew a piece of the button to force the extra
end.
"We opened really strong, stealing the second end,"
said McCormick’s lead, Ann Swisshelm Silver. "But after
that we just couldn’t generate a deuce."
Johnson’s team carded two points three times, with
the key end being the eighth. After McCormick missed a
runback attempt to remove the opposing shot rock,
Johnson coolly drew the back of the button for the
second point. "In hindsight, that was probably the wrong
shot to play," McCormick said of the runback attempt.
The deuce gave Johnson’s team a 5-4 lead and good
footing for the finish. "I like to score in the eighth
end, because it sets you up for the ninth and 10th,"
said Johnson, whose vice skip is her sister, Jamie, a
24-year-old graphic designer.
Team McCormick blanked the ninth, but got in trouble
early in the 10th and stayed there. Johnson’s
two skip rocks were guards, and McCormick really had no
chance of scoring more than one at any point.
"We’ve played the ends of games very well all week,"
remarked Johnson. Going into the extra end, she said,
"We were pretty confident that we could keep it clean."
That confidence was bolstered by two terrific shots by
second Jessica Schultz, who made a double peel with her
first rock, and another peel with her second, bumping
one of her team’s rocks into the house to boot.
"We knew that they were ranked number two, and that
we would have to play our best just to stay with them,"
said Johnson. "That was our goal going in, to stay with
them and give ourselves a chance at the end."
While there is still a long, grueling road ahead to
the coveted Olympic berth, Johnson’s team is now
well-positioned to make a run for the playoff rounds.
"We just have to keep playing like we have been," said
Johnson.
Lank’s team faces the same road, and these two teams
will intersect at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Lank and McCormick
also have yet to meet; that showdown is at 8 a.m.
Thursday. But Lank’s 8-7 win in 11 ends over the
Sormunen rink tonight leaves this team also in a
comfortable position.
The Lank rink played one end longer than many figured
likely tonight, however, after taking a 7-5 lead and the
hammer into the 10th end. Lank’s last-rock
runback attempt to remove one of two opposing rocks in
the four-foot missed its mark, and overtime was
required. In the 11th, though, Lank’s final
rock takeout was right on.
Finding the right weight to throw on the very
weight-sensitive ice provided by icemakers Mark Shurek,
Garland Legacie and crew has been a key to victory for
teams all week long. Lori Karst’s team got its first win
of the week doing just that. The Madison firefighter/EMT
led her team to a 9-2 win over the Katie Schmitt team in
eight ends.
"I think we found our controlled hit weight," said
Karst. "We had it the first two games, and then we kind
of lost it. Now we have our game again."
Amy Wright’s team jockeyed its way back into a tie
for fourth (3-2) by defeating the Nancy Richard rink,
10-5. The Caitlin Maroldo team is also 3-2 after holding
off the Norma O’Leary squad, 7-4.
The women’s sixth round starts at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Live action of the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for
Curling can be followed on the USA Curling web site at
www.usacurl.org, including via an audiocast and
end-by-end scoring.
USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics
and AmerAust Technologies as well as by General Motors,
Chevron-Texaco and Bank of America through a joint
marketing program with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Game scores: Wright 10, Richard 5; Lank 8,
Sormunen 7 (11 ends); Karst 9, Schmitt 2; Johnson 7,
McCormick 5 (11 ends); Maroldo 7, O’Leary 4.
Women’s standings
Johnson 5-0
Lank 5-0
McCormick 4-1
Maroldo 3-2
Wright 3-2
Sormunen 2-3
Karst 1-4
O’Leary 1-4
Richard 1-4
Schmitt 0-5 |
