5-and-Under National Championship Preview: Part 2
Meet Pools C and D, Storylines to Follow, and My Picks
Throughout the course of the season, I dove into a few different topics impacting the 5-and-Under world. Those include how participants of region-locked and region-limited qualifying events fared at nationals and the impact of teams winning multiple qualifying events.
I’m certainly curious to follow how teams from region-locked and region-limited events, but there are a number of other themes I’m excited to see play out. I am sure I'll dive more into those following the championship and into next season. But before we meet the final 12 teams competing in St. Paul, let's look at some notable numbers for this year's event!
3 - teams who qualified who won at qualifying event, but their skip will be playing with a different team in St. Paul. Oddly enough, all three of these teams are in the same pool! We’ll meet those teams below!
9 - teams from the GNCC region at nationals. The MoPac region comes in second with 6 teams.
561 - total (not unique) entries in qualifying bonspiels this season.
6 - teams made up primarily of arena club members. Last season, there were only two teams.
2 - teams returning the skip and at least one other team member from last year’s 5-and-Under nationals in Chaska. Those two teams are the last two champions of the event, Mellin and Bliven.
Without further ado, let’s meet the teams from Pools C and D! If you missed the preview of the other two pools, you can read that here. My picks to win the championship can be found at the end of the newsletter.
Meet the Teams
Teams are listed in alphabetical order.
Important note regarding my stat-keeping logic for 5-and-Under: 5U teams have varying rosters throughout the season and often play in many different iterations at events. When calculating records and/or comparing with past performances, I only combine the statistics from events where the team has the same skip and at least one other repeated teammate. (e.g. if 3 of the 4 team members of a team went 5-0 at two events, but they had a different skip for each event, I consider those two different 5-0 teams.) I’ll likely have a newsletter devoted to this topic in the future.
Pool C
Elliott (Nashville Curling Club)
Qualified via Cincinnati
Nashville Curling Club has had curlers compete at the 5U national championships each of the last 3 years, and Team Elliott was able to extend that streak to 4 consecutive years this year with their win in Cincinnati. Elliott went 9-2 across two qualifier events this season, and their run at Cincinnati, which included a win over Rocket City’s Team Carlson, showed what they are capable of. Having a touring mixed doubles curler, Vanessa Williams, at lead should be a huge help for them to get ends set up effectively.
Horgan (Appleton Curling Club)
Qualified via Mapleton
This season, there were three teams who won a qualifier bonspiel, but whose skip also qualified for nationals with another team. Those three teams who brought in a new skip for 5U nationals just so happened to end up in the same pool (Horgan, Russ, Sundbom). Team Horgan won the Mapleton qualifier with Johnnie Papineau as skip, but Papineau is going to be playing front end with Team Bliven. The team brought in Stevens Point’s David Horgan to skip the Appleton-based team. How they gel as a team with a new skip will be vital against some challenging opponents in Pool C.
Kunkel (Coyotes Curling Club)
Qualified via Seattle Granite & CurlVegas
I have been consistently impressed with the development of 5U curlers at Coyotes Curling Club in recent years, and this year’s 5-and-Under National Championship teams demonstrates why. Team Kunkel earned the 3rd overall seed of the 24 teams after winning two qualifier events in Seattle and Las Vegas. While the team did not curl in any 5U events east of the Rocky Mountains, they managed a robust 14-2 record. They defeated fellow national championship Team Nie twice as well as a 2024 nationals teams Neumann (Seattle Granite) and Gilbert (Oval), and I expect to see a strong performance from them in St. Paul.
Russ (Rocket City Curling Club)
Qualified via Fort Wayne
As with Team Horgan, Team Russ earned their qualification for nationals with a different skip than they’ll have at nationals. While Abbey Carlson skipped the team that won in Fort Wayne, the rest of the Fort Wayne team is remaining together with Brice Russ taking over skipping duties and Matt Smith throwing the brick. Of the three teams who qualified with a different skip, this is the only team promoting someone to skip from their existing team. Even without Carlson, this is still going to be a good squad. If any of their opponents think this might be an easier game because of the skip change or because they are a team from an arena club, those opponents will be sorely disappointed.
Sundbom (Duluth Curling Club)
Qualified via Duluth
Team Sundbom is the third of the skip-change trio, and this rink originally qualified with Matt Mellin as a skip at their home ice at Duluth Curling Club’s Lakeside 5U. The team from Duluth is bringing in Taylor Sundbom to skip them in St. Paul. Of the three teams with a different skip at nationals, this rink is the largest unknown to me. The other three curlers proved they can make shots with Mellin skipping them back in January, and Sundbom had won the Duluth 5U with Mellin a couple years ago. If they can execute their shots after they make the trek down I-35, they could throw a wrench in many other teams’ plans.
Wright (Broomstones Curling Club)
Qualified via Charlotte
Dillon Wright and team have been all over the country over the past few years, working hard to qualify for 5-and-Under nationals. Their hard work paid off in Charlotte, where they hung on to win a nail-biter versus fellow club members and national qualifiers, Team McGurk. Wright put together a 16-5 record at 5U events this season, and last season, it felt like Dillon was constantly in the A event but could never quite make it to the finals. With the monkey off his back and a trip to St. Paul achieved, he should be able to play loose at nationals, and loose teams often wind up being the most successful teams in an event like this.
Pool D
Betzold (St. Paul Curling Club)
Qualified via St. Paul
For the 5-and-Under National Championship, the host club receives one of the 24 bids, and Team Betzold was able to win that spot in a really tight game last month. In that game, Betzold was able to make a comeback by consistently converting with hammer and forcing their opponent to one without hammer. If they can keep up that formula on their home ice, the host club representatives will be able to make some noise in pool play.
Campbell (Coyotes Curling Club)
Qualified via Phoenix
As with Team Kunkel, Team Campbell is another product of the strong 5U development at Coyotes Curling Club. They come in as the 4th overall seed, having qualified for nationals at the very first qualifier of the season at their home club in Phoenix. On their way to the win in Phoenix, Team Campbell defeated three other nationals teams (Mewers, Wright, and Kunkel) and wrapped up their title in a great final versus a 2024 5U nationals team, Team Gilbert. Darren calls a great game at skip, and the rest of the team has proven to be excellent at executing the shot calls. This team also went on an impressive run at the MoPac men’s club playdowns, not dropping a game until the finals. If they can play to their capabilities, they have a good chance at a medal.
Green (Bucks County/Diamond State Curling Clubs)
Qualified via Ardsley
The Cool Duck 5U bonspiel at Ardsley is one of the more legendary 5-and-Under bonspiels in the country, and this year was a little bit of a roller coaster. While the bonspiel was not originally slated to be a qualifier, it was announced as a qualifying event mere days before the bonspiel started (read more here). Rob Green and team took full advantage of the opportunity to qualify for 5U nationals with a commanding run through the event. All of Team Green are members at Bucks County Curling Club (a fantastic example of an arena to dedicated ice conversion), and they make up half of the 10 curlers at nationals who are members at Bucks County. The other 5 members are on Teams Bouthillette (3) and Shoemaker (2). There is no doubt, the St. Paul Curling Club YouTube is going to get a lot of viewers from eastern Pennsylvania!
Mewers (Orange County Curling Club)
Qualified via Fairbanks
I was playing on the neighboring sheet the very first time Queena Mewers qualified for a 5U national championship, and my game finished in time to watch a wild final as Team Mewers went to their first 5U national championship in Hibbing. After Kyra Manayan played front end and Queena attended as an alternate for Team Parks last year in Chaska, Mewers and vice Manayan were able to find themselves back at their third consecutive nationals after a great win in Fairbanks. The two also made up the back end of a team at arena nationals, where they made the playoffs.
With lead David Hernandez skipping his own team at St. Paul, they filled the void by bringing in Neal Digre and David Hurst. Digre and Hurst threw last rocks on the two teams with arguably the best resumes to not qualify for nationals this season, so despite losing a good lead in Hernandez, Mewers was able to craft out an incredibly strong team.
Waind (Grand Forks Curling Club)
Qualified via Bismarck
The Dakota Territory Curling Association may only have one team represented at nationals, but the region as a whole is home to some of the best curlers in the country as evidenced by performances at the Club National Championships. I was not familiar with Team Waind until they defeated two-time nationals representatives Team Anderson at the DTCA 5U final in Bismarck. I was genuinely surprised to see them come in as the lowest-seeded team in Pool D. With limited information, it’s hard to say where they’ll finish up, but I would not be surprised to see them in the middle to upper half of Pool D when all is curled and swept.
Wysocki (Stevens Point Curling Club)
Qualified via Kettle Moraine
As I noted in my stat-keeping logic, I only combine stats for teams if they have the same skip and at least one other returning teammate across rosters. So technically according to my record-keeping rules, this team was not counted as a 2024 nationals team. Last season, Trevor Wysocki, Dave Kaul, and Kris Lefeber were skipped by Josh Chojnacki at 5U nationals. This year, the Stevens Point squad was able to earn their return trip to the national championship with their win at Kettle Moraine (and a runner-up finish in Madison. So even though my records might not have listed them as a returning team from last year’s nationals, the experience they gained last season should prove to be very valuable as they return back to a national championship as the 5th overall seed. They’re a team that can run very hot, and if they get warmed up, they could go on a run in St. Paul.
My Picks
After my first two championship previews (arena and club), I was entertained that I received messages about the fact that I did (or did not) pick teams to win. In some cases, it was from a team giving me a good-natured ribbing that they proved me wrong when I didn’t pick them to win. So, for the teams I do pick: congratulations on my picks meaning absolutely nothing! For the teams I don’t pick: you're welcome for the free bulletin board material.
Gold: Team Mellin (Duluth Curling Club)
Silver: Team Bliven (Appleton & Green Bay Curling Clubs)
Bronze: Team Campbell (Coyotes Curling Club)
5-and-Under is arguably the most variable demographic when it comes to figuring out who is going to win not just a whole event but any game. But when you’ve got the two most recent national champions in 5U in the field, I feel like you’ve got to pick them to win. Every year, it feels like there is a newcomer to the event that makes a run. Two years ago it was Mellin. Last year it was Team Rose who lost to Bliven in the 3rd place matchup (and who went on to win the inaugural 5-and-Under world event). My pick to make that run this year is Team Campbell, based in part because they won the Phoenix 5U which had eventual nationals teams in the field (and they beat half of them in that championship run) and also because of their impressive showing at their regional club playdowns.
That’s it for my preview of the 24 teams competing in St. Paul!
Be sure to tune in to the St. Paul Curling Club YouTube channel to support these curlers! The first draw starts Thursday at 8am Central.
If you’re not already, subscribe tuned to this newsletter for a recap of the event after it’s all wrapped up, and consider sharing this post with your curling friends and family!