It was an up and down day for Mackenzie Mitchell and her rinkmates during the first day of competition for women at the 2019 U18 junior provincial curling championships in Corner Brook.
The evening ended on a high, as the Corner Brook Curling Club team — also featuring Ainsleigh Piercey, Mikayla O’Reilly and Sarah McNeil Lamswood — edged Team Follett of St. John’s by a 5-3 score.
Earlier in the day, however, Mitchell fell by the same score to another rink from St. John’s in Team Neary.
Caribou Curling Club’s Rebecca Goulding, along with rinkmates Martha Snelgrove, Emma Butler and Sarah Cassell, also went 1-1 on the day.
The evening draw saw them fall 8-5 to Team Neary, after defeating fellow Stephenville rink Team Savoury — consisting of Jacqueline Savoury, Samantha Cassell, Olivia Ayre, Beth Stokes and Kate Stokes — by an 8-3 margin.
That game was the Savoury rink’s lone contest of the day, but they are back on the ice again 2 p.m. today versus Neary.
Goulding will also play at 2 p.m. against Follett, while Mitchell won’t see action until 8 p.m. when she squares off against Goulding.
On the men’s side, Team Butler of the Caribou Curling Club in Stephenville — John William Butler, Jacob Hatcher, Cole Hulan, and Andrew Roberts — are tops among west coast rinks with a 1-1 record. They were doubled up 6-3 by Team Smith of Labrador City in the late draw, but earned a convincing 10-2 win over Team Sacrey, also of Stephenville, in the early game.
The Sacrey rink, featuring Jonathan Sacrey, Aiden Ouaida-Foley, Micah Sacrey, Sean Vermaak, and James Lewis, fell to 0-2, with their first loss coming Wednesday.
Corner Brook Curling Club’s Team O’Neill — Daniel O’Neill, Nicholas Baldwin, Ethan Mercer, Eric Holyes, and Ethan Mulley — are 1-2 after two days of play, with both losses coming on Day 2. That included a 9-0 loss to Team Young, and a 9-3 defeat at the hands of Team Krats of Gander.
All three west coast rinks are in action 9 a.m. today.