The Langley Curling Club played host to the annual wrap-up tournament on Sunday, Feb. 19 for the Optimist Junior Interclub Curling League Envision Financial Division 1.
This year the league had teams registered from Delta, Langley, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, New Westminster-Burnaby, Port Moody-Coquitlam, Surrey and Vancouver.
The wrap-up tournament was made up of teams who have been competing since the fall of 2022 and this was the culmination of play, awards and celebration for this curling season. The curlers are juniors, both boys and girls, who reside from Howe Sound to Hope.
There were eight teams including two teams from Brazil, the majority of players of which have played internationally at the World Junior-B Curling Championships. Braza Boys practice out of Hillcrest Curling Club in Vancouver and Braza Girls practice out of Royal City Curling Club in New Westminster.
The tournament and Division 1 curling is available to these avid curlers thanks to the support of the Optimist Club, that sponsors curling for younger players in Division 2 and up into Division 1. Some of these curlers have also recently completed in the U18 high school playdowns and been training for the 2022 BC Winter Games.
The Grand Aggregate Winner was the Team Braza Girls (Gabriela Farias skip, Ana Teodoro, alternate, Leticia Cid, lead, Isis Abreu, third, Melissa Sampaio, second and coach Barb Zbeetnoff.
The Block A winners were Team Jones from Langley (James Jones, skip, Daniel Sutherland, third, Austun Arnold, second and Inara Ozeroff, lead.
Team Mares from the Delta Thistle Curling Club placed second in Block A. The team is Ali Halliday, third, Brooke Halliday, second, Hanna Mares, skip, Megan Kostrzyci skip and coach Graeme McMurray.
The Block B winners were Team Norrington from Port Moody. The team is Carmen Chong lead, Ella Wang, second, Ara Yoo, third, Sidney Norrington, skip and coach Darren Kent.
The season would not have been possible without the sponsorship of Envision Financial, the support of The Optimist Club and the leadership of Al Kersey. Many thanks go to Envision Financial, The Optimist Club, Al, coaches, volunteers and team members for another great season.
