EDMONTON — The University of Regina Cougars curling teams will be playing for medals at the Canada West Curling Championship on Sunday afternoon.
The only thing left to determine is what colour.
Regina’s Carter Williamson and Chloe Johnston each posted a pair of victories during the final day of round robin competition in their respective men’s and women’s competitions on Sunday in Edmonton. As a result, they both will now advance to the semifinals on Sunday morning, and with a win there, will be playing for gold later in the afternoon.
Williamson, third Rhett Whittmire, second Andrew Moulding and lead Evan Arnold came into the day with their playoff destinies in their hands thanks to a 5-1 record, and they’d leave nothing to doubt when it came to locking things down.
Williamson opened the day with a 6-2 win over Victoria’s Reid Zingel before closing out the round robin with a 6-1 victory against UBC Okanagan’s Tyler Antunes, finishing tied with Calgary’s Kenan Wipf for first place in the preliminary round.
Against Victoria, Regina got off to a good start with a deuce in the first end after which Zingel would blank the next two. The teams then exchanged single points the next three frames to see Williamson holding a 3-2 lead heading into the seventh. There, the Cougars would put up a three spot and the teams would shake hands.
In his round robin finale against Okanagan, Williamson kept control of things early, scoring one in the first and after Antunes opted to blank the second and third, stole one in the fourth and another in the fifth for a 3-0 lead. Okanagan was finally able to score with the hammer in the sixth, but only picked up one, and Williamson would tack on three in the seventh to bring things to an early end.
Regina finishes the preliminary round with a 7-1 record.
It’s all a similar story for U of R’s Chloe Johnston, third Tessa Silversides, second Hannah Rugg and lead Lauren Speidel, as they edged Victoria’s Hannah Bartlett 4-3 in their first game Saturday before rolling to a 6-1 victory over UBC Okanagan’s Jillian Evans in their final preliminary round contest.
Johnston picked up points in the first two ends against Bartlett, but would see Victoria do the same in the fourth and fifth ends to tie things 2-2 at the break. The teams then exchanged forces the next two ends before Johnston used the hammer to score one in the eighth for the win.
Johnston used a bit of thievery to get off to a good start against Evans, stealing one in the first and another two in the second for a quick 3-0 lead. Okanagan picked up one in the third, and after being forced to one in the fourth, Regina would steal singles in the fifth and sixth to take a 6-1 lead and bring things to an early end.
Johnston finishes with a 6-1 record and alone in second place.
Both Regina teams will now play in the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday against opponents to be determined. The semifinal winners advance to the Canada West championship final at 1 p.m., with the losers playing for bronze at the same time.
The top two teams from each championship advance to the USports Curling Championship from Feb. 17-21 in Regina.
