In less than one week, the top junior men's and women's curlers in the province will invade Credit Union Place and the Dauphin Curling Club for the Telus Junior Men's and Women's Provincial Championships.
On the women's side, a stacked field is expected and that includes Minitonas' Presley Sagert and her foursome. Presley, Eden Betcher, Bryn Zamzow, and Madison Sagert earned one of the four West 1 region spots for the event.
16 teams in all on the women's side will battle for a spot in the nationals.
"We're really excited to compete as a team in the provincials again," said Sagert. "There are just great teams in the competition and it feels great to be amongst them."
"It's going to be so cool to play close to our hometown in our home region," she added. "Dauphin has such a fantastic facility. It's also going to be neat to see the hockey rink transitioned to a curling rink."
Sagert and her team had a pretty solid showing at this same event last year. They went 3-4 which placed them in third in their pool.
"We're hoping to better our record this year and making the playoffs would mean a ton to us," continued Sagert. "And, I feel if we play to the best of our abilities, we have that chance."
On top of last year's success, Sagert and her team have been solid this season as well. They finished in second place in the Johnston and Company Parkland Junior Curling Tour. They lost a close game against Anya Jackson in the final.
Prior to the playoffs, the team lost just one game so they finished the tour with a 7-2 record overall.
"It's always fun to play in that league and going to the finals with just one loss felt great," said Sagert. "We struggled in the final against Anya Jackson, but they played very well against us."
Starting strong when the provincials begin next week will certainly benefit Sagert and her foursome. They started last year's event with back-to-back losses. With only playing seven round-robin games, it's tough to rebound after a less than desired start.
Now with just a few days more to prepare, the team based out of the Swan River Curling Club will be coming to Dauphin ready to go.
"We've been practicing a lot and we also play on Tuesday nights in Swan River," concluded Sagert.
For spectators, a week pass is just $50 by heading to the front desk at the Dauphin Rec Complex.
