By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

hurry hard

RDC curling teams ready to rock 2019 season

Nov 24, 2019 | 8:14 PM

The RDC Kings and Queens curling teams are back at it and ready for another run at ACAC glory.

Last year, the mixed team won bronze at the ACAC Championships, while the Queens took fourth.

“We have a good group and we always have the same goal of making it to provincials with all three of our teams,” says Head Coach Brad Hamilton, the 2018-19 ACAC Curling Coach of the Year.

Making up the Queens squad for 2019-20 are skip Hollie Vincent, third Emily Plett, second Erica Watts and lead Jaycee Bourke. First-year Carmyn Penner can play on either the Queens or mixed team.

“The Queens should be strong. Hollie is the only returnee. She was third last year and moved up to skip. Erica and Jaycee both played on the mixed team last,” says Hamilton. “We have a really good recruit in Emily Plett. She’s one of the better junior players in the province, so it’s kind of a coup to have her join us.”

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Plett, a student in the Bachelor of Education Elementary program, was a member of the team that won the 2019 Sherwood Park U21 Junior Women’s Bonspiel earlier this month.

Vincent, a nursing student, skipped her team to victory at the Red Deer U21 Junior Women’s Bonspiel in October. Both of those teams rank in the top five provincially.

On the men’s side, fourth-year Austin Kelts-Larsen (skip) and fifth-year Andrew Jones (third) are back with the Kings. Newcomer Nicholas Woznesensky (second) and Thomas Crawford (lead) fill out the roster.

“So far the Kings have looked good. There’s a lot of experience there. Thomas skipped our mixed team last year, so he’s moving over to play lead,” says Hamilton. “Nic is the newbie, but he’s curled junior in Red Deer, so I’ve watched him play for the last two to three years.”

Competition is expected to be stiff for the Kings, whose most difficult opposition will likely come from Concordia, Lakeland and NAIT, according to Hamilton.

Meantime, Peyton Bresee (skip), Janelle Wilson (third), Jordan Burkard (second), Kash Schwab-Bierkos (second) and Breanna Swan (lead) will compete for the RDC Mixed Curling team.

“They are all new and very gung-ho. They are getting used to each other, but so far things look good,” says Hamilton. “They’ve gotten better and better every week.”

RDC curling teams will compete at the ACAC Fall Regional from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 at the Lloydminster Golf and Curling Centre.

Full schedule information is at RDCAthletics.ca.

(with file from RDC media release)