Teams whose members include athletes who had recent success nationally and internationally sit at the top of the standings after opening-day play at the 2020 Newfoundland and Labrador mixed doubles curling championship at the Re/Max Centre in St. John’s.
The team of Sarah Chaytor and Nathan Young is 3-0 as is the brother/sister duo of Sarah and Ryan McNeil Lamswood.
Young joined a Hungarian curler to win the mixed doubles gold medal at the 2020 World Youth Olympics in Switzerland, while Ryan McNeil Lamswood was a member of the Daniel Bruce rink that finished as runner-up at the Canadian junior men’s championship earlier this month and also plays with the Greg Blyde rink that claimed a berth at the upcoming national university championship with a second-place finish in the AUS tournament.
It’s a guarantee one of the two teams won’t be undefeated after today since they are scheduled to meet in the afternoon draw.
Three teams are at 2-1, including defending champions Jenna Harvey and Dave Thomas of Port aux Basques. They are joined by the team of MacKenzie Mitchell, skip of the provincial junior women’s champions, and 2018 Tankard-winning skip Greg Smith; and another sibling duo of Katie Follett (a member of Mitchell’s junior team) and her brother Sam (who normally curls with Young).
At 1-2 are Caillie and Nathan Locke (another sister-brother combo), Brad Gushue and his daughter Hayley, and Andrea Heffernan/Steve Routledge.
The partnership of Lauren Barron and Blyde is still looking for its first win, as is the team of Zach Young and Brooke Godsland.
Eight of the 10 rinks are based out of the Re/Max Centre, while the McNeil Lamswoods (who won the provincial mixed doubles in 2017) are from Stephenville and join Harvey and Thomas west coast entries.
Draws today begin at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Preliminary play continues through Saturday morning, with each team playing nine games.
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