Rocky View curler Reese Morison was headed to U18 Nationals in Saskatoon on Sunday, Feb. 16 to represent Alberta along with her rink mates Alena Yurko (Skip), Abigail Mielke (2nd) and Kendra Koch (Lead).
Morison, who is 3rd for her team, said her rink played well all year-round, but seemed to be perpetually stuck in second place. But they were finally able to put it all together, and turned in a dominating performance at Alberta provincials which took place back in early January in Leduc.
“We went to provincials and we did our round robin and we had a five and two record, and we beat the first place team we never beat before,” she said.
The team then clawed its way to the top of the field, explained Morison, finishing first at provincials and taking the converted Team Alberta 1 position at nationals.
“So we get to go to nationals as Team Alberta 1, and the team that we beat in the final gets to go as Team Alberta 2,” she said.
Morison said she was looking forward to an even higher level of competition in Saskatoon.
“It's going to be really exciting, and it's going to be really good competition,” she stated. “We just like we've never played any of these teams before, so it's a really good experience. And it's a really good experience to play teams at a higher calibre because they're the best teams in their province too. So it's gonna be really competitive.”
However, Morison said her rink is ready for the challenge, crediting the tough proving ground of Alberta junior curling for their confidence.
“I feel pretty confident,” she confirmed. “I think Alberta is a fairly competitive province at all times.”
Morison, who is a proud member of the Balzac 4H Beef Club, reflected on how her curling journey got started.
“So I show cattle and I do 4H, and they do like a fun day every year and they go curling. And I went (about 10 years ago) and I was like, ‘Oh, this is kind of fun.’”
From there Morison caught the bug, and has done everything in her power to improve her skills and climb the ranks of elite curling ever since. She is grateful to all the mentors she has had along the way, not least of which is current coach Glenn Ector.
“I think he's had the biggest impact on our team,” she said. “He's just, like, amazing. He's so level headed and he's so kind and I'm just, like, really grateful for him and him being able to go to nationals with us.”
Morison also thanked all her Airdrie sponsors who have done so much to ensure she can follow her dream without worrying about costs and expenses.
“They make our season possible and make everything doable, because without our sponsors, we wouldn't be able to enter so many events and we wouldn't be able to pay for accommodations, or go anywhere.”
Team Alberta 1 was scheduled to start the round robin competition at nationals on Sunday, but results were not known prior to press time on Feb. 14.
