Both Kwalikum and Ballenas Secondary will have a curling team representing their school at the B.C. high school junior curling provincials in Creston from February 18 to 22.
Taking place at the Qualicum Curling Club, the KSS boys, consisting of skip Jackson Marshall, third Duncan Gallop, second Ben Meldrum, lead Tyler Weirsma and alternate Alex Hunter, managed to beat out the team from Claremont (Victoria) in a double knock out showdown, punching their ticket to the provincials.
The girl’s team from Ballenas (skip Emily Smith, third Lauren McIntosh, second Jada Zimmerman, lead Amanda Litton) wound up playing Brooks Secondary School (Powell River) twice as well, after Claremont was knocked out of the tournament after losing two games in a row.
Being a double knockout, Brooks got the best of Ballenas in the first meeting but they managed to win the second game, resulting in a third game for a tie-breaker to see who would advance to the provincials.
In the tiebreaker, Brooks came out and played very well but Ballenas was up to the challenge and took the match and the spot to the provincials after winning in seven ends.
Both teams will get some more practice time in over the next few weeks before heading off to Creston to compete in the B.C. Junior provincial championships.