Curling teams continue winning ways, beating Tigers, Evergreens

MEDFORD CURLING

The Medford curling teams continued their late-season success in the past week with both varsity squads picking up two more wins against North Division rivals.

The latest wins came Tuesday at the Medford Curling Club where the Raiders earned close victories over the Marshfi eld Tigers. The girls team of Lyza Brandner, Karlee Westrich, Anya Apfelbeck and Erica Brandner seemed like it was going to cruise to victory, scoring three rocks in each of the first two ends and leading 7-0 after three. But Marshfield’s three-player team came storming back to make a game of it before Medford held on 9-7.

The girls finished 6-2-1 in North matches and won three of their last four. They are 8-5-1 overall.

The boys continued their sudden resurgence, beating Marshfield 9-8 in a back-and-forth contest for their fourth straight win. The team of Dalton Casar, Brett Lundy, Alex Wilson and Nathan Willman finished 4-5 against North rivals, is 4-9 overall and has played their way into the Wisconsin State High School Championships next weekend in Wausau.

On Thursday, Medford traveled to Wausau and swept D.C. Everest. The boys were down 6-0 after one end, but they did all of the scoring after that to earn a satisfying 11-6 win. The girls won their game over the Evergreens 10-5.

Medford has added one more regularseason road trip. The Raiders will visit Waupaca today, Thursday, for a 3:45 p.m. meet.

The Raiders know who they will be pooled with at next weekend’s state tournament, but the order of those matches is not yet known.

The girls are the seventh seed in their 16-team tournament and will compete in a four-team pool with second-seeded Pardeeville and the JV squads from Portage and Wausau West. The boys drew the 15th seed and will compete against Kimberly, second-seeded Poynette and Stevens Point, who they beat on Jan. 27.

No spectators will be admitted for round-robin play at the Wausau Curling Club Feb. 18-19, but fans will be allowed for the semifinals, which are set to start at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, and the finals at 4:30 p.m.