2024 Women's Arena National Championships Preview
Some of the most overlooked curlers in the country are set to compete for a national championship
The 2024 USA Curling Arena National Championships are about to get underway at Wausau Curling Club in central Wisconsin. As I mentioned in my last post, for those of you not familiar with “arena” curling, this is a national championship specifically for curlers who do not have the privilege of curling on dedicated curling ice outside of traveling to bonspiels.
By and large, most arena curling clubs are in parts of the country not traditionally associated with curling (get ready to meet a lot of teams from Texas). Their home ice is prepped by zambonis, often has gouges left behind from hockey players or figure skaters, and requires club members to come early to league nights to haul rocks onto the ice and freeze in the hacks.
Arena club members often travel long distances (sometimes easily over an hour’s drive) just to get to play something that occasionally resembles actual curling. And this national championship is just for them.
However, don’t think these curlers aren’t good players just because they do not get to play on good ice during league play. Within the ranks, you’ll find curlers who have fared well at 5-and-under championships, put up tough fights at club nationals, and have even been on teams at the USA Curling National Championships.
In this post I’ll be previewing the women’s pools and teams, and if you subscribe for free, you’ll receive the men’s preview in your inbox in a couple days!
How To Watch
All games will be livestreamed on the Wausau Curling TV YouTube channel and co-streamed on the USA Curling YouTube.
Wausau Curling Club put together a great webpage with links to draw sheets, line scores, and lineups.
The first draw of the women’s championship begins at 12pm CT on Thursday, October 24. The event runs through Sunday, October 27.
Women’s Draw Schedule
Thursday, October 24
Draw 1: 12pm Central
Seeding matchups: 1 vs 6, 2 vs 4, 3 vs 5
Draw 2: 8pm Central
Seeding matchups: 3 vs 6, 1 vs 4, 2 vs 5
Friday, October 25
Draw 3: 12pm Central
Seeding matchups: 4 vs 6, 2 vs 3, 1 vs 5
Draw 4: 8pm Central
Seeding matchups: 4 vs 5, 2 vs 6, 1 vs 3
Saturday, October 26
Draw 5: 12pm Central
Seeding matchups: 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4, 5 vs 6
Top 3 teams advance to the playoffs. Top ranked team from each pool gets a bye to the semifinal.
Quarterfinals: 4pm Central
A2 vs B3, B2 vs A3
Sunday, October 27
Semifinals: 9am Central
1st and 3rd place matches: 2pm Central
Meet the Teams
Teams are listed in order of peer seeding.
Pool A
Segovia - Curling Club of Houston (Mid-America)
Houston curling club has reigned supreme over the last 3 Arena National Championships. Segovia has skipped the last 2 championship rinks, and vice Alyssa Parks has won gold at each of the last 3 championships. Parks has also found success at the 5-and-Under level, qualifying for that national championship each of the last 3 years as a skip.
This team is not a stranger to Wausau Curling Club. They competed at the 2023 Club National Championships in Wausau and finished with a 3-2 record, tied for 1st in their group. They lost a tiebreaker game to eventual 2023 club national champion Team Politano.
Ackerman - Curling Club of Rochester (Minnesota)
It’s an unfortunate reality that the 3rd largest city in Minnesota does not have a dedicated curling club, but they’re making the most out of their eligibility for arena nationals. The Rochester rink improved from a 1-4 round robin record in 2022, to winning the bronze medal over Team Feldman in 2023. In past seasons, they have gone as Team Schuder, but the information I received referred to them as Team Ackerman, so it remains to be seen if they have had any role changes going into this year’s event.
Robertson - Dallas-Fort Worth Curling Club (Mid-America)
The rink from the DFW metroplex has been a contender at each of the post-COVID national championships, and they’re sure to be a top challenger in 2024. After a silver medal in 2022, the Robertson rink would go on to start 3-0 at the 2023 championships (as Team Walsh), only to drop their final two games of pool play in heartbreaking fashion. As a result, they ranked lower than Rochester’s Shuder after tiebreakers were taken into consideration and failed to make the playoffs. This is clearly a team seeking redemption to return back to the championship once again.
Mercer - Cleveland Skating Club Curling (Great Lakes)
Ohio’s Team Mercer returns once again to the arena national championships looking to get back on the podium for the first time since 2019. The team led by Kathryn Mercer has gone a combined 3-7 at the past two arena championships. They’re no strangers to success on this stage. These ladies won gold in Salt Lake City in 2018, and followed up with a silver in West Chester in 2019.
Hamann - La Crosse Curling Club (Wisconsin)
Before this past season, La Crosse Curling Club was the only arena club in the state of Wisconsin. With the newly started Rhinelander Curling Club, it will be great to see if Hodag Curling can start to compete with La Crosse. For this year, Team Hamann has won the right to represent Wisconsin at arena nationals once again. They’ll be looking to improve on last year’s debut performance after going 1-4 in pool play in 2023.
Weber - Sioux Falls Curling Club (Dakota)
As with Hamann, Team Weber is making the trek to Wausau with hopes of improving on their 2023 performance. This group from South Dakota had a lot of high-scoring affairs in Eveleth last year. They had a really tough draw, drawing both the eventual gold and silver medalists in their first 2 games. With Segovia, Mercer, and Weber all sharing a group last year as well, it’ll be fun to see some of the rematches from 2023.
Pool B
Asis - Silicon Valley Curling Club (Mountain Pacific)
In 2022, Silicon Valley lost to Houston’s Team Segovia in the semifinals. One year later, they returned with 2 members and a new skip, Jennifer Asis. Asis, who had previously skipped a team at arena nationals representing Lone Star Curling Club, would go on to lead absolutely dominant performances through the pool play, including a 7-1 win over Segovia. However, Segovia would get revenge in the championship, defeating Asis 5-2 and sending the Silicon Valley curlers home with a silver medal. With how dominant this team was last season, they’re my pick to be the ones to finally unseat Houston from women’s arena curling dominance.
Feldman - Wine Country Curling Club (Mountain Pacific)
Katie Feldman has been a fixture at arena national championships for the better part of the last decade. The skip from Sacramento’s Wine Country Curling Club has curled at every arena championship since 2017. During that time, her teams have gone a combined 22-9 record. They have made the bronze medal match each of the last 4 championships and have won two of those events. Despite finishing as the runner-up out of the MoPac region to the Asis rink, there is no denying this is a team with invaluable experience and a track record of success.
Mewers - Orange County, Oval, and Wine Country Curling Clubs (Mountain Pacific)
No one capitalized on the changes to the 2024 arena championship more than the rink skipped by Queena Mewers. Two of the big changes for 2024 impacted this team:
The formation of teams made up of curlers from different clubs within the same region was allowed. The team brought together a group of primarily 5-and-Under curlers from the MoPac Region: Mewers and vice Kyra Manayan from Orange County, 2nd Tessa Brockie from Oval Curling Club, and lead Anne Bonache from Wine Country.
The creation of the Last Chance Qualifier, open to any teams from any region, granted one last team an entry into the event. Team Mewers traveled to La Crosse, WI for the inaugural event and won the final qualifying spot!
Mewers, Manayan, and Brockie have all been very active in 5-and-Under curling, with both Manayan and Mewers qualifying for 5U nationals in past seasons. This team is a great example of what next steps for 5-and-Under curlers can and should look like.
Allison - St. Louis Curling Club (Midwest)
Another team returning from the 2023 Arena National Championship, Team Allison is not going to make anything easy for Pool B. The team, curling out of the Creve Couer Ice Arena in St. Louis, went 2-3 last year. Similar to Team Weber, expect to see a lot of offense in their games. Skip Flannery Allison hung up a 4-point end and two 5-enders at Eveleth in 2023.
Carlson - Rocket City Curling Club (Grand National Curling Club)
Rocket City Curling Club is one of the bigger success stories of arena curling in the country. The club is bursting at the seams, and to be represented at arena nationals once again by Team Carlson, can only mean good things for the competitive future of the club. Carlson is another team returning from 2023’s event in Eveleth. They went 1-4, but their one win was against eventual bronze medalist Team Schuder.
Avery - Boise Curling Club (Pacific Northwest)
Team Avery out of Boise, ID is a team of newcomers to the Arena National Championship slate. Skip Rhiannon Avery has competed in the past at Mixed Nationals, so competing a championship is not a new experience for her. They were the lone women’s team from the Pacific Northwest Curling Association, so they were able to qualify uncontested, but three of the four have been curling together for about 10 years. Between being a total unknown to the rest of the field but having a lot of experience playing together, it’s going to be interesting to see how they fare in Wausau.
My Picks
Gold: Asis, Silicon Valley
Silver: Walsh, DFW
Bronze: Segovia, Houston
I think it’s time for a new team to wear the crown in women’s arena curling. The Asis rink was dominant up until the gold medal match in 2023, and if their results at the 2024 Rocky Mountain Curling Invitational mean anything, it looks like they’re on a mission. At the RMCI in Denver, Asis lost by 1 to men’s club silver medalist skip Darrick Kizlyk and held on to beat reigning women’s club champions, Sidney Schroeder.
The Mountain Pacific (MoPac) and Mid-America (MACA) regions have typically been the top performing regions at arena nationals over the past few years, and I don’t expect that to change this year. I believe it’s truly a wide-open event, and after you add in the pressure of a national championship in one of the best facilities in the country, who knows who will come out on top. I know I’ll be watching. You should be too.
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