The top curlers in B.C. will square off at the end of January, and four Vernon teams are in the mix.
The 2020 B.C. Curling Championships take place in Cranbrook, where three men’s teams and one women’s team will represent Vernon from Jan. 28 to Feb. 2.
Team Cotter will be back to defend their title after winning it all last year. The Vernon men’s team consisting of Jim Cotter (skip), Andrew Nerpin, Steve Laycock and Rick Sawatsky (lead) won the 2019 championships with a 9-4 win over Victoria’s Jason Montgomery in the final.
Vernon’s Team Longworth - comprised of Mark Longworth, Michael Longworth, Rob Nobert and Cam Weir - were one of 11 teams that qualified for the championships following regional playdowns in December.
Team Wood took until their last opportunity to secure a spot at the tournament, but the Vernon-Penticton squad grabbed the final men’s berth to complete the list of 16 teams on the men’s side. The team lead is Vernon’s John Slattery and its skip is Penticton’s Brad Wood.
On the women’s side, Kim Slattery’s team has been qualified for the championships since the first open playdown in Abbotsford in December. Sheila Cowan, Alyssa Kylo and Shaina McGiverin round out Team Slattery’s roster.
The final open women’s playdown took place in Enderby from Jan. 4-5. There, Team Daniels from Delta Thistle and Team Gushaluck from Royal City, Kelowna and Vanvouver clubs took the final two spots in the eight-team women’s championship bracket.
Scores during the round robin will be listed at curlbc.ca. Semi-finals and finals events will be broadcasted on CHEK and streamed at cbc.ca/sports.
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