Devils Lake is a tiny community in North Dakota. Its population has barely changed in the last 40 years. But sports fans were focused on Devils Lake last month, as the city hosted the USA Junior Curling Championships. Will Pryor, who graduated from Cornwall last June, was on the winning team.
Will took an interest in the sport after watching the Winter Olympics in 2010. He learned how to play at a club in Westchester, and then joined a Wednesday night men’s league, where he shared the ice with people who were much older than he was. It was a good opportunity, as he was able to absorb their knowledge.
This winter, Will was one of four players on Team Meyers in the USA Junior Curling Championships. The competition started with a round robin, where the teams with the best records advanced to the playoffs.
Will and his teammates finished second, which meant they could stay in Devils Lake a little while longer, and then go home with medals. They got off to a slow start in the playoffs, as they dropped their first match and had to play and beat an additional opponent to earn a berth in the Gold Medal round.
The additional game wasn’t easy. Team Meyers came from behind to even the score with what one observer described as an “amazing double.” Then, as the game was extended, Meyers claimed the victory by the slimmest of margins. Their stone was one inch closer to the button than their opponent’s.
In the finals, the foursome faced Team High Performance (a select group of athletes chosen by the US Curling Association). The match went into curling’s equivalent of extra innings. Team Meyers remained consistent. When a High Performance shot fell short, Will and his teammates became the new Junior National Champions.
The team consists of Ethan Meyers (Duluth, Minn.), Quinn Evenson (Fairbanks, Alaska), Steven Szemple (Edison, N.J.) and, of course, Will Pryor. Their coach Linda Christensen is also from Duluth.
The winners didn’t have long to celebrate. As they came off the ice, they were measured for the Team USA uniforms they will wear in March at the world junior championships in Estonia.
Information on the world competition is available at www.wjcc2015.curlingevents.com. The World Curling Federation will provide coverage of the event via its You Tube channel (World Curling TV).