MEDFORD CURLING - Curlers aim to pull it all together at state high school championships
MEDFORD CURLING
Members of the Medford boys and girls curling team are hoping to put the pieces together to have a strong showing at the 2024 state tournament this coming weekend in Wausau.
The Raiders ended their regular season competition on Thursday, Feb. 8 against Wausau West. The boys team of Alex Wilson, Nathan Willman, Austin Klinger and Jaeden Brandner took a tumble with a 10-1 loss at Wausau West. The girls were unable to field a team with two players out.
Regrouping ahead of this weekend’s state tournament, the teams are focused on making it out of the round-robin bracket and into the semifinal round. In the tournament, teams play three games in their round-robin pools with top record from the pools advancing to the semifinals which will be held Saturday afternoon.
“If either team boys or girls can keep their composure and their mindset anything can happen,” Medford head coach Stu Amundson said, adding that he believes the teams have what they need to put things together and get farther than the round robin.
“They proved through the season at times that they have what it takes,” he said, noting that the key will be for everybody to keep themselves focused and maintain their composure that will make the difference.
The Medford boys drew the ninth seed in the 16-team tournament and will play in a four-team pool that includes topseeded Wausau West I, eighth-seeded Wausau East I and 16th-seeded Portage II. Medford’s boys finished the regular season 5-11 in varsity play and 2-9 against North Division squads. The Raiders lost three times to Wausau West, split with Wausau East and lost to Portage’s JV Dec. 8 in the warm-up match before the annual Battle of the Brooms, which the Raiders won against Portage’s varsity.
The Medford boys will face Wausau East I on sheet 3 at Wausau Curling Club at 10 a.m. Friday. They then face Wausau West I on sheet 8 at 4 p.m. The Raiders will meet against Portage II on sheet 7 at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Marshfield, Poynette, Stevens Point I and Waupaca round out the top five boys seeds.
The Medford girls team of Caidyn Zenner, Erica Brandner, Stacey Dassow and Kaya Fortin is the 13th seed and in a pool that includes fourth-seeded Stevens Point, fifth-seeded Kimberly and 12thseeded Marshfield. The Raiders, who finished 4-11 in varsity games and 3-7 in the North Division beat Marshfield 8-7 in an extra end in their season opener and earned a season split with the Tigers. They lost twice to Point.
The Raiders will face Stevens Point on sheet 2 Friday at 12:30 p.m. and Kimberly on sheet 7 at 6:30 p.m. They will face Marshfield at 10:30 a.m. Saturday on sheet 4.
Wausau West I is also the top girls seed going into the championships. Poynette is seeded second and Wausau East is third.
Poynette is the defending girls state champion, while Stevens Point is the defending boys champion.
