The Parksville Curling Club will be playing host to the B.C. High School Curling Provincials from March 6 to 8.
The Ballenas Whalers will have a team present as their girls’ team secured a berth to the provincials after winning the Islands in Victoria earlier this month.
It was a dominating weekend for the Whalers as they made short work of their first two matches in the Island tournament, beating Brooks from Powell River by five points and then forcing Reynolds from Victoria to concede the match after just seven ends.
Ballenas faced Brooks again the next day and found a different team. Brooks changed their strategy and were looking to be more aggressive, looking to draw to the house instead of sitting back to see what would be in front of them.
Brooks had the lead for the majority of this game but heading into the seventh end, the Whalers were down by just one point. Ballenas tied the game heading into the final end and it all came down to the last shot from skip Emily Smith, who put one close to the button to give Ballenas the win and Island championship.
Jada Zimmerman (lead), Cassidy Dahms (second), Lauren McIntosh (third) make up the rest of the team. Zimmerman and Dahms haven’t been curling for long but have shown they’re more than ready to get out there and sweep hard.
The rest of the field at the provincials will see eight boys’ teams and seven other girls’ teams joining the Ballenas Whalers. The boys’ side will see Belmont, David Thompson from Vancouver, Lord Tweedsmuir, Centennial, David Thompson from Invermere, Valleyview, Fraser Lake and Smithers. Joining the girls will be teams from St. Thomas Moore, Seaquam, Chilliwack, Prince Charles, Salmon Arm, College Heights and Mount Elizabeth.