The Duluth Curling Club tandem of John Shuster and Cory Christensen captured the USA Curling Mixed Doubles National Championship with a 7-5 win over Chris Plys of Duluth and Vicky Persinger of Fairbanks, Alaska, today at the Granite Curling Club in Seattle.
Shuster and Christensen will now represent the U.S. at the 2019 World Mixed Doubles Championship April 20-27 in Stavanger, Norway. Shuster's team will also compete in the World Men's Championship later this month in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Shuster, 36, is a four-time Olympian and Christensen, 24, is a four-time junior national champion and they put the pressure on Plys and Persinger in the eighth end. Two excellent taps from Shuster and then Christensen left little chance for Persinger and Plys, who won the men's national title with Shuster last month in Kalamazoo, Mich.
• Defending champion Margie Smith and teammates Norma O'Leary of Silver Bay, Debbie Dexter of St. Paul and Shelly Kosal of Edgerton, Wis., won Senior Women's National Championship today at the Portage (Wis.) Curling Club. They secured a 5-0 record with a 6-3 win in the morning over the Patti Lank rink of Lewiston, N.Y.
• The Geoff Goodland rink of Eau Claire, Wis., capped a perfect week with his fifth senior men's national title at the Senior Men's Championship today at the Heather Curling Club in Mapleton, Minn. The team finished with a 9-0 record after defeating Superior's Phil DeVore rink 7-4. The Smith and Goodland rinks will now represent the U.S. at the 2019 World Senior Championships April 20-27 in Stavanger.
