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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 23, 2005
Duluth teams make push for playoffs at
U.S. Olympic Trials
(MADISON, Wis.) – The playoff hopes of two Duluth,
Minn., teams are still alive after exciting finishes
during the women’s seventh draw Wednesday night at the
2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials at the Madison Curling
Club.
It took 12 ends but Amy Wright (Duluth, Minn.) and
teammates Cristin Clark (Redmond, Wash.), Stephanie
Roland (Petersburg, N.D.) and Lisa Rugen (Seattle)
knocked off the Norma O’Leary rink, 8-7. Wright’s
shooter rolled out on a raise takeout in the first extra
end to win the game. In the 12th, O’Leary
tried to tap back a guard into the four foot but ended
up too deep giving Wright the win and improving her
record to 4-4.
“I don’t know that we could have made it anymore
difficult on ourselves than we did. To be up coming home
with the hammer, and then give up a steal, and then to
have the winning shot in hand in the 11th and
have it roll out—it was hair-pulling-out time,” Wright
said. “The ice conditions were changing out there, which
can be completely understood when everybody leaves the
ice area. There were certain areas where it was slowing
down, and we were picking up on it as fast as it was
changing.”
Aileen Sormunen, the youngest skip in the field at just
18 years old, showed why she made the Olympic Trials
field with a great draw through a tight port to get a
piece of the button with her last rock to defeat Lori
Karst’s Madison rink, 5-4. The shot appeared momentarily
to be headed for one of the top guards but squeezed by
about 1/16 of an inch.
“I didn’t know if it had enough weight until it came to
rest,” said Sormunen (Duluth, Minn.) “The game was back
and forth, and I really didn’t feel in control until the
game ended.”
In a preview of a semifinal – or final – yet to come,
Cassie Johnson put the exclamation point on her team’s
finish by peeling the top guard and removing Patti
Lank’s shot rock on the side of the 12 foot for a 7-4
victory.
Johnson (Bemidji, Minn.) and teammates Jamie Johnson
(Bemidji), Jessica Schultz (Duluth, Minn./Anchorage,
Alaska) and Maureen Brunt (Portage, Wis.) started strong
with a deuce in the opening end. Team Lank then blanked
the second end and were forced to take one in third.
Johnson blanked the fourth end patiently trying to set
up her deuce and executed with a draw to the four-foot
for it. In the fifth end, Team Lank was looking at five
Johnson rocks in the house but was able to make a hit.
However, the shooter rolled out too far conceding a
steal of one to Johnson. Team Lank scored one in the
seventh and was able to steal two in the eighth to keep
the game tight. Johnson scored two in the ninth leaving
Lank looking at trying to score three in the final end.
The Johnson rink now sits alone at the top of the
women’s field undefeated at 8-0.
“We’re in it,” Johnson said of her team’s placement in
the field. “We just play every game as if it’s our only
game. We’re just really focused this week. Being in
Japan really helped us be ready for this week and got
our minds set.”
Team Johnson won a silver medal earlier this month at
the Karuizawa International Bonspiel in Karuizawa,
Japan.
The Debbie McCormick rink ran its record to 7-1 with an
8-3 win over the Caitlin Maroldo rink in eight ends. Up
5-1 after four ends, Team McCormick stole two in the
next end and never allowed Maroldo to score more than
one point in any end. The team will take on Team Lank in
a rematch of the women’s national championship final a
year ago.
The women return to the ice at 8 a.m. tomorrow for the
final draw of the round robin. The semifinals will take
place at 2 p.m. Friday. The 2006 U.S. Olympic 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: C. Johnson 7, Lank 4; Wright 8,
O’Leary 7 (12 ends); Sormunen 5, Karst 4; Schmitt 6,
Richard 5 (extra end); McCormick 8, Maroldo 3
Women’s standings
*Johnson 8-0
*Lank 7-1
*McCormick 7-1
Sormunen 4-4
Wright 4-4
Maroldo 3-5
O’Leary 3-5
Karst 2-6
Richard 1-7
Schmitt 1-7
Women’s semifinalists:
Team Johnson: Cassie Johnson (Bemidji, Minn.),
Jamie Johnson (Bemidji, Minn.), Jessica Schultz (Duluth,
Minn./Anchorage, Alaska), Maureen Brunt (Portage, Wis.)
Team Lank: Patti Lank (Lewiston, N.Y.), Erika
Brown (Oakville, Ontario/Madison, Wis.), Nicole
Joraanstad (Madison, Wis.), Natalie Nicholson (Bemidji,
Minn.)
Team McCormick: Debbie McCormick (Rio, Wis.),
Allison Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Ann Swisshelm
Silver (Chicago), Tracy Sachtjen (Lodi, Wis.)
(30)
For more information: Rick Patzke, USA Curling,
rickp@curlingrocks.net, 608-338-5500 |
