Submitted by BG Curling Club
On May 10-15, Ice Line Arena in West Chester, Pennsylvania, hosted the United States Curling Association’s Arena National Curling Championships, which included both a men’s and a women’s team from the Bowling Green Curling Club, located in northwest Ohio. The men’s team finished 2-2, in a three-way tie for ninth place among a field of 20 teams from across the U.S., while the women’s team finished 2-4, in tenth place among 18 teams, after a tie-breaker. Both teams just missed advancing to the quarter-final rounds.
“The Bowling Green Curling Club is very proud of both our teams and how they performed at Arena Nationals,” said Shannon Orr, club president. “As we move forward with our new dedicated curling facility, which will be opening this fall, we look forward to sending even more local curlers to regional, national, and international competitions. We hope more folks will come to the new club and try one of our learn-to- curls.”
The move to a dedicated ice facility will mean, however, that the club will be unable to participate in this event again, which is reserved for curlers from arena-based clubs that share ice with skaters and hockey.
The women’s team, consisting of Elizabeth Spencer of Toledo, Angie Jones of Sylvania, Beth Landers of Bowling Green, and Jen Henkel of Perrysburg, lost to San Francisco Bay III (11-2), lost to Lansing (8-1), lost to Palmetto-South Carolina (7-6), won against Dakota-Minnesota, (6-2, with alternate Jennifer Williams of Norwalk), and won against Kansas City (7-5). A second place result for their division in the team draw shot challenge, and sixth place DSC result overall, allowed the women’s team to go to a tie-breaker game, to resolve a three-way tie for third place in their division, and try to advance to the quarter-final round. A re-match with Kansas City did not go in their favor, however, ending with a 10-3 loss.
“The women’s team had a great time bonding with each other, other teams, and representing our club,” said women’s team skip, Elizabeth Spencer. “We were also able to gain valuable experience by playing at a national level against teams from as far away as San Francisco. We won some games, and we lost some, but the experience was amazing, and we are excited for all the new options that will open up for us in the future.”
The men’s team, consisting of Cameron Roehl and Scott Piroth of Bowling Green, Matthew Smith of Holland, Ohio, and Jay Clark of Saline, Michigan, lost to Long Island (5-2), won against Oklahoma (11-8), lost to San Francisco Bay (9-3), and won against Cedar Rapids-Iowa (7-3). They won the team draw shot challenge in their division (8th overall for DSC), but with 4-0 and 3-1 teams in their division, were unable to advance to the quarter-finals, as they sat at third.
“I am so thankful to have had this opportunity as a 17-year- old skip to lead our team during a national competition,” said men’s team skip, Cameron Roehl. “The event was a great learning experience that I will remember throughout the rest of my curling career and beyond. I am super-proud of how we worked together as a team on the ice, in order to compete toe-to- toe against some extremely talented opponents.”
Pittsburgh defeated Cincinnati (9-8) for the men’s gold medal, with Houston defeating San Francisco Bay (7-4) for the bronze. San Francisco Bay I defeated Dakota-Minnesota (8-1) for the women’s gold medal, and Pittsburgh defeated Circle City-Indianapolis (5-4) for the bronze.
