HOUSTON—While coach Greg Major said the rink he coaches from the Houston (Texas) Curling Club did very well at the Mid-America Curling Association (MACA) playoffs, finishing second, they will have to wait until as late as the end of January to know if they are going to the National championship.
Haweater Greg Major, who is originally from Gore Bay, is the coach of the Julie Segovia rink which also includes Alyssa Parks, Heather Cook, Jessica Bostwick and Sara Whiting. They took part in the MACA playoffs held in Denver, Colorado on December 2-4.
“We did very well, although we didn’t finish in first place,” Mr. Major told The Expositor. “The team that finishes first in this competition is guaranteed to go on to the Nationals. We finished in second,” he said, explaining, “we lost our second game in the round-robin portion of the competition in the last game. We had beat this same team twice last year.”
“So that put us with two losses going into Monday. There were two teams with one loss and if either lost their game, we would still have a chance at second,” said Mr. Major. “So, by Sunday night (December 3) we thought we had been eliminated.”
However, “on Monday morning one of the teams that had only lost one game in the round-robin lost their game. There must be a clear first and second at this event.”
“We finished with four wins and two losses in the round-robin and had to win a tiebreaker, which we did in an extra end,” said Mr. Major. “In the seventh end we were up one when they stole one. In the eighth our skip Julie made a fantastic shot (to keep the team going). We took it in the ninth, winning the tiebreaker by a score of 7-3 over the Henning team from Denver.”
Mr. Major said only the top team is guaranteed to go the nationals. His rink finished second. However, if the Alaska and Dakota region champions in their club championships decide not to go to the Nationals, which has been the trend the past couple of years, then his rink would qualify.
“We are hoping the trend continues,” said Mr. Major. He added, “All the regional championships have to be done by the end of January, so we have to wait until then before we know if we will be going to the nationals.”
