Joel Larway's Team Washington wins US Club National Championship

Washington men, Minnesota women, win 2014 Club Nationals

(STEVENS POINT, Wis.)
Joel Larway (Lynnwood, Wash.) led his Washington foursome, with Benj Guzman (Everett, Wash.), Peter Sommer (Carnation, Wash.) and Chad Siefert (Seattle) to the championship by dominating Massachusetts' Peter Bialek rink, 8-2. Bialek (Billerica, Mass.) Adam Jacobson (Westborough, Mass.), Dan Naylor (also of Billerica) and Daniel Cho (Providence, R.I.). A Washington men's team also won the title last year.

Norma O'Leary and her Duluth Curling Club teammates capped a perfect week to become 2014 Club National Champions. O'Leary (Silver Bay, Minn.) and teammates Jill Hansen, Patti Luke and Mary Shields (all of Duluth), controlled their final game against North Dakota II (Fargo's Ann Podoll, Carmen Delaney, Madonna Fitzgerald and Patty Olesen), 8-4. Team O'Leary finished 11-0 in a terrific example of consistent curling. This is the third time O'Leary has led a team to the Club Nationals title.

In the women's bronze medal game, North Dakota I stole two points in the 10th end to edge Lori Karst's Wisconsin rink. Team North Dakota I includes Beth Bohlman and Amy Bushaw of Grand Forks, Tanis Hastmann of East Grand Forks, and Gail Ingwalson and Jean Vorachek, also of Grand Forks. Karst (Madison, Wis.) curled with Mary Parker (also of Madison), Rebecca Reinhart (Monona, Wis.) and Cynthia Rhyer (McFarland, Wis.). Five points by Karst in the first end was not enough to stop Bohlman's comeback for bronze.

Jeff Wright's Team Illinois won men's bronze with a steal of its own in the last end to beat Peter Stolt's Minnesota team, 9-8. Wright (Libertyville, Ill.) teamed up with Russ Armstrong (Lake Bluff, Ill.), Russ Brown (Lake Forest, Ill.), Steven Waters (Evanston, Ill.) and Steve Wright (Chicago). Team Minnesota includes Stolt (Plymouth, Minn.), Brad Caldwell (Andover, Minn.), Cameron McLelland (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Evan Jensen (also of Minneapolis).

Finals results:
Women
Minnesota I (O'Leary)* 102 002 101 1 8
North Dakota II (Podoll) 010 110 010 0 4

Men
Massachusetts (Bialek) 000 001 010 x 2
Washington (Larway)* 020 110 202 x 8

Bronze medal game results:
Women
Wisconsin (Karst) 500 000 110 0 7
North Dakota I (Bohlman)* 011 211 001 2 9

Men
Illinois (Wright)* 301 010 102 1 9
Minnesota (Stolt) 020 102 030 0 8

Final round robin standings including tiebreak games:
Men
Minnesota (Stolt) 7-2
Washington (Larway) 7-2
Illinois (Wright) 7-2
Massachusetts (Bialek) 6-3
Michigan (Roberts) 5-4
Wisconsin (Day) 5-4
North Dakota (Pengilly) 3-6
Oregon (Smoltz) 3-6
Alaska (Flippo) 2-7
Colorado (Moir) 0-9

Women
Minnesota I (O'Leary) 9-0
North Dakota I (Bohlman) 6-3
North Dakota II (Podoll) 6-3
Wisconsin (Karst) 6-4
Washington (Konno) 6-5
Minnesota II (Kraus) 5-5
Maryland (Drummie) 3-6
Ohio (Paine) 3-6
California (Walsh) 2-7
Arizona (Heuerman) 1-8