The future of curling in Vancouver Island looks good.
That was evident at the one-day Parksville Junior Bonspiel hosted by the Parksville Curling Club. The event drew 16 junior teams from Victoria, Duncan, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Comox Valley, Campbell River, Qualicum Beach and Parksville.
The tournament was split into two divisions — novice and experience.
The novice category featured young curlers with less than three years playing experience. There were eight rinks that entered.
Finishing in first place was the rink from Duncan Curling Club led by skip Peyton Guterson, Isla Hughes, Mike Graham and Richard Zhou. They beat the Campbell River Curling Club quartet of Julian Soan, Taanika McCune, Katiana McCune and Matthew Harris, who took home the silver. Placing in third place was the combined Parksville and Nanaimo curling clubs led by William Landstrom, Ethan Thomas, Lewis Flynn of Nanaimo and Cody Butterworth.
The experience division also had eight teams entered and it showcased young curlers with more than three years playing experience. They included Ballenas Secondary and Kwalikum Secondary teams that used the event as training for the 2018 BC High School Curling Championships.
The Kwalikum Kondors rink of Jackson Nowak, Isaac Brightland,Cam Hunter and Eli Bodnaruk topped the division by beating the Duncan Curling Club rink of Brooke Reintjes, Delaena Reintjes, Finley Oud and Peter Kitsch. The Ballenas Whalers rink of Devin O’Rouke, Connor Litton, Christian Klein-Beekman, David Downey and Cole Pletz took third place.
— NEWS Staff