UPDATED Sunday, February 28, 2010 --- 7:15 a.m.

Minnesota men win gold at 2010 Club National Championships

(McFarland, Wis.) – In a game marked by missed opportunities by both teams, Minnesota’s Todd Birr rink edged Washington’s Philip Tilker 7-5 to win the 2010 Club National Championship men’s title Saturday afternoon at the Madison Curling Club.

“Both teams struggled a little, but we were able to control the scoreboard,” Birr said. “They did miss several chances to pull the trigger on us and tighten up the game.”

Birr and teammates Randy Cumming (Lake Crystal, Minn.), Kevin Vetter (St. Peter, Minn.) and Shawn Runing (North Mankato, Minn.) got out to a big lead early, scoring in the game’s first three ends to jump ahead 4-0.

“The shot I want back the most is the triple attempt for three in the second, which got us in the hole in the first place!” Tilker said.

Tilker (Seattle) and his Granite Curling Club teammates Darren Lehto (Snohomish), Liam Barksdale (Seattle), and William Rugen (Seattle) battled back but ran out of rocks in the 10th trying to steal the win.

“Our first season as a team, we’ve come a long way from getting whipped often early this fall,” Tilker said.

In the bronze medal game, Jeff Wright and his Illinois team seemed to have several rocks buried in the four foot and guarded in most ends and it paid off as they defeated Wisconsin’s Kroy Nernberger, 9-4, in the bronze-medal game.

“We played aggressively all week long. We had lost to Kroy (Wisconsin skip) early in the week. We like to have lots of rocks in play,” Wright said.

Wright (Libertyville, Ill.) and his Exmoor Curling Club members Russ Armstrong (Highwood), Steve Waters (Evanston), Russ Brown (Lake Forest) and Stephen Wright (Chicago) scored early and often in defeating Nernberger (Fitchburg, Wis.) and teammates Jake Will (Madison, Wis.), Patrick Roe (Madison, Wis.), and Tom Gabower (Janesville, Wis.). Illinois took a 4-2 lead after three ends and then stole two later ends to earn the win.

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UPDATED Sunday, February 28, 2010 --- 7:15 a.m.

Illinois women win Club National Championship

(McFarland, Wis.) - Tracy Lawless and her Illinois rink stole four straight deuces and a single in the eighth end to break open a tight game and close the door on Beth Bohlman's North Dakota team to win the women's Club National Championship Saturday afternoon at the Madison Curling Club.

This is the first club national title for Lawless and teammates Marcy Calaway (Lake Forest, Ill.), Leslie Armstrong (Lake Bluff, Ill.) and Laurie Hektor (Lake Bluff, Ill.) in the sixth year of the event.

"We came with our 'A' game today," Callaway said. "We tried to give them tougher shots by playing aggressively. Overall this week, we came back very well from a tough two-loss day Monday, worked on our releases in practice, then came back strong."

The Illinois women's team has close ties to another team that won a club national title previously. Armstrong's spouse, Russ, played for Illinois' men's semifinalist team this year, and skipped the Illinois men to the inaugural Club National title in 2005. On that 2005 team, Calaway's father, Mike Griem, played vice skip.

"Illinois played a beautiful game and deserved to win," Bohlman said. Teaming up with Bohlman were Grand Forks Curling Club teammates Susan Stern, Amy Bushaw, Nancy Rentfrow and Dawn Zimney (all of Grand Forks, N.D.).

In the women's bronze medal match, Wisconsin's Laura Roessler rink defeated Shelley Kinney and her Minnesota team, 6-5. Roessler drew the button to cap the extra-end thriller. In the extra end, Minnesota made several excellent draws around guards, but Wisconsin third Sara Hein countered with a terrific triple-peel to ensure Roessler would have access to the four foot with her last shot. Joining Roessler (Trempealeau, Wis.) and Hein (Galesville, Wis.) from the Centerville Curling Club are teammates Lynita Delaney (Trempealeau), Nora Kraemer (Winona, Minn.) and Elyse Sorenson (La Crosse).

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UPDATED Thursday, February 25, 2010 --- 7:50 a.m.

Standings after Day 4 of the 2010 USA Curling Club National Championships:

Men:
Minnesota 7-0
Wisconsin 6-1
Illinois 6-1
Washington 5-2
North Dakota 1 3-4
New York 3-4
Michigan 2-5
North Dakota 2 2-5
Utah 1-6
Colorado 0-7

Women:
Wisconsin 5-2
Minnesota 1 5-2
Illinois 5-2
North Dakota 5-2
Minnesota 2 4-3
Washington 4-3
Pennsylvania 3-4
California 2-5
New York 2-5
Colorado 0-7

Round 7 for the women brought the leaders back to the field - with a vengeance. Co-leaders, Wisconsin and Minnesota 1 both fell hard today. Wisconsin (5-1) lost to New York (1-5) by a score of 13 - 3. Minnesota 1 lost to Washington by 12-3. Em Good for Washington, in explaining their victory said, "We knew they were a good team - sometimes you have these games; we just got a good flow going".

In the evening men's draw, previously unbeaten Wisconsin, represented by the Madison Curling Club's Kroy Nernberger, Jake Will, Patrick Roe, and Tom Gabower, suffered their first loss to Michigan by a score of 8-0 in 6 ends. Minnesota defeated North Dakota 1 7-5 to maintain their unblemished record and top the standings at 7-0.

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UPDATED Wednesday, February 24, 2010 --- 7:45 a.m.

Standings after Day 3 of the 2010 USA Curling Club National Championships:

Men:
Minnesota 5-0
Wisconsin 5-0
Washington 4-1
Illinois 4-1
North Dakota 1 3-2
New York 2-3
Michigan 1-4
Utah 1-4
North Dakota 2 0-5
Colorado 0-5

Women:
Wisconsin 4-1
Minnesota 1 4-1
Minnesota 2 3-2
Illinois 3-2
Washington 3-2
North Dakota 3-2
Pennsylvania 2-3
California 2-3
New York 1-4
Colorado 0-5

The Illinois Team, skipped by Tracy Lawless, knocked off the last unbeaten team on the Women's side, Wisconsin, in the fifth round on Tuesday afternoon. Team Wisconsin, skipped by Laura Roessler drops down to 4-1, but still remains tied for the lead The key end was the eighth. Illinois was leading 5-4 without hammer, and looked to be likely to give up a deuce, as Wisconsin had shot rock buried behind corner guards. With her last shot, Lawless made a draw to the top four foot coming around a Wisconsin front ring rock. Roessler attempted a raise takeout, which failed to curl enough, and removed her no. 2 stone inadvertently. The result was a steal of 3 and an 8-4 lead for Illinois.

In the evening men's draw, two of the four remaining unbeaten teams fell as the home crowd was treated to an extra-end thriller between unbeaten Illinois and Wisconsin. Wisconsin, represented by the Madison Curling Club's Kroy Nernberger, Jake Will, Patrick Roe, and Tom Gabower, used their final stone of the eleventh end to draw through narrow port right to the button to lie shot and frozen on an Illinois stone. Illinois skip, Jeff Wright, attempted a difficult angle raise hit with the hammer stone of the end but failed to remove the Wisconsin counter, sealing the come from behind win for the home team. Unbeaten Minnesota defeated North Dakota 2 9-4 to remain tied with Wisconsin atop the standings at 5-0. Previously unbeaten Washington lost 9-4 to New York. New York is skipped by Charles Brown who originally hails from West Bend, Wisconsin.

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UPDATED Monday, February 22, 2010 --- 4:30 a.m.

Standings after Day 1 of the 2010 USA Curling Club National Championships:

Men:
Minnesota 1-0
Wisconsin 1-0
North Dakota 1 1-0
Washington 1-0
Illinois 1-0
New York 0-1
Michigan 0-1
North Dakota 2 0-1
Colorado 0-1
Utah 0-1

Women:
Minnesota 1 2-0
Minnesota 2 2-0
Wisconsin 2-0
Illinois 2-0
Pennsylvania 1-1
Washington 1-1
North Dakota 0-2
New York 0-2
California 0-2
Colorado 0-2

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Posted Sunday, February 21, 2010 3:45 p.m.

The opening ceremonies of the 2010 Curling Club National Championships were this afternoon in McFarland.

There are 20-teams total competing this year. Ten on the men's side and 10 on the women's side.

The teams are from all over, including New York, California and of course right here in Wisconsin.

One by one the 20-teams competing in this year's curling club national championships made there way out onto the ice today.

Most wore black pants--with few variations--a staple in the curling community.

But one team stood out in appearance and location.

Dressed in pink and black from head to toe...the four ladies from Hollywood, California took to the ice.

Their pink power motif started with just a simple vest a few years ago.

Since then some of team members have amped it up notch adding pink to their hair.

Donna Umali Mendoza says, "I promised myself that if I made it to club nationals again this year I would add a streak of pink."

And pink to their shoes.

Jennifer Gamboa says, "Women love them. I always get really cool compliments about the shoes...makes me smiles and give me a little more confidence when I am on the ice."

But the real conversation starter is their pink kilts.

Not only are those pink kilt's very comfortable to play in according to the ladies. They also provide them with a distinct competitive advantage when ever they're taking on the fellas.

Cindy Wood says, "Yes the kilts do help when you play against guys."

Even this year's youngest competitor, Tom Gabower of Janesville, is noticing the girls in pink.

"If I was playing against them...I would probably get a little distracted by the pink that they're wearing everywhere," Gabower says.

Now, all the California squad has to do is hope they make it to the competition to show off their pink.

The teams designated driver isn't to comfortable in the snow. That could make the next couple of days tricky.

The competition kicked off today and runs through next weekend.

The top four men's and women's teams will advance to the championship round.