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Men's side still open at trials
OGDEN — The men's competition is still up for grabs at U.S. Olympic Curling Trials at the Ice Sheet, while the Kari Erickson rink has tightened its grip in women's play.
Heading into today's draws, Team Tim Somerville holds slim lead in the standings at 6-2 over second-place Team Scott Baird, which stands at 5-3.
In Thursday afternoon's draw, Team Somerville defeated Team Baird 9-5 to cling to hope for an Olympic repeat. Tim Somerville was skipper of the U.S. team at the 1998 Nagano Games.
Somerville had the evening bye Thursday; Baird defeated the Craig Brown rink 8-5 to hang onto to second place.
"Every game's do-or-die now," said Matt Stevens, vice skip for Team Baird.
Tied for third in current standings are Team Brown and the Pustovar rink at 5-4. In Thursday night's draws, the Pustovar team lost an extra-end game to the Doug Pottinger rink, 7-6, while the Jason Larway Team defeated the Andy Borland rink, 8-3.
In women's action, Team Erickson used victories in both afternoon and evening draws to hold a 7-0 record going into the last three games of the trials. In the first draw, Erickson's squad defeated the Cassie Johnson rink 8-7, with the close contest mirroring Sunday's opening-round draw between the two teams.
In the evening round, Team Erickson defeated Lori Mountford's team 9-3. The Patti Lank rink stayed close in standings with a 9-2 win over Team Johnson.
With just three games remaining in women's play, only Lank's squad can surpass Erickson, but Lank will need help. Team Erickson faces the Lank, Wright and Joraanstad teams in their final draws.
Round-robin play continues today through tomorrow with draws at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tiebreakers will be Sunday if needed.
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December 14, 2001
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