20
MAY 2010
Celebrating 50 years – 1958-2008
®
Washington repeats as U.S. mixed champions 2010 U.S. Mixed National Championship Chicago Curling Club Round Robin Washington (Clark) North Dakota I (Gulseth) Wisconsin (Karst) Connecticut (Surka) California (Sieg) Minnesota (Gervais) Alaska (Shuttleworth) Illinois (Wright) Michigan (Gault) North Dakota II (Heier)
by Terry Kolesar, Editor
W
ashington’s first couple of curling won their seventh mixed national title as the 2010 U.S. Mixed National Championship wrapped up March 27 at the Chicago Curling Club. Brady Clark and wife Cristin (of Lynnwood, Wash.) from Seattle’s Granite Curling Club only needed four ends to win their seventh title as they got off to a fast start in defeating Al Gulseth’s North Dakota 1 team, 10-1, for the gold medal. This is the sixth title for team lead Bev Walter (Seattle) and second for Philip Tilker (Seattle). This was the first appearance in the mixed finale for Gulseth and teammates Michelle Wagner (Fargo, N.D.), Mark Gulseth (Aberdeen, S.D.) and Patty Olesen (Fargo, N.D.), who finished the week with an 8-3 overall record. The veteran Washington rink scored four points in the first end and followed up with steals of two and four before Gulseth scored a single and conceded the match. The Clarks won their first title in 2002 and
*ND1 WI CT *WA
Semifinals: 030 003 103 x 002 110 010 x
001 003 110 x 200 310 003 x Bronze-medal game: *WI 110 101 011 0 CT 002 010 100 3 Gold-medal game: ND1 000 1xx xxx x *WA 424 0xx xxx x *last rock in first end
Winners of the 2010 U.S. Mixed National Championship title were (l-r) Brady Clark, Cristin Clark, Philip Tilker and Bev Walter of Seattle’s Granite Curling Club. Submitted photo
again in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 to remain as the most decorated mixed champions in U.S. history. Derek Surka’s team from Connecticut scored three points in the final end to win the bronze medal over Lori Karst’s team from Wisconsin. Surka (New Haven,
Conn.) and teammates Charrissa Lin (New Haven, Conn.), Sean Murray (Edgewood, Md.) and Rachel Sethi (Falls Church, Va.) gave up a steal of one to Karst (Madison, Wis.) and teammates David Carlson (Portage, Wis.), Angela Montgomery (Fitchburg, Wis.) and Dan
Wiza (Waunakee, Wis.) in the ninth end, making it a two-point deficit, but they were able to earn three for the win. The Surka rink overcame a rough start to the week when they found themselves 0-3 after two days of competition before starting a winning streak to make a run at the playoffs.
8-1 7-2 6-3 5-4 4-5 4-5 3-6 3-6 3-6 2-7
10 5 6 9 6 7 1 10
NBC Universal to air Vancouver highlights documentary Keep the Olympic spirit going strong by tuning in to “Visions of Vancouver” at 9 p.m. ET on May 24 on NBC Universal Sports. The documentary will highlight the 2010 Olympic Winter Games from Vancouver. Learn more, www.universalsports.com.
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