A teenaged curler from Cochrane will experience something not many Alberta curlers get to do – compete in two national competitions in one winter. After featuring at the 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer Feb. 24 to March 2, 17-year-old Julianna Mackenzie will compete alongside Team Bakos at the 2019 U18 Canadian Championships, April 2 to 7 in Sherwood Park, Alta. The team qualified for the national bonspiel by finishing as runners-up at the 2019 Curling Alberta Optimist U18 Provincial Championships, March 14 to 17 in Medicine Hat. “We performed really well,” said Mackenzie, the lead for Team Bakos. “We were communicating and having a lot of fun. It was really great to be back in Alberta, playing against all the competition and just having a good time.” Team Bakos was just one point away from winning the provincial championship, but lost in the gold-medal game March 17 to Team Wrytrychowski when the Airdrie-based rink won the draw with the final throw. The gold-medal draw was the third time the two rinks faced each other in the tournament. “We hadn’t played them a lot during the season, so we didn’t know what to expect,” Mackenzie said. “But we got to play them a lot [in Medicine Hat]. It was a battle every time, and the championship came down the last rock.” Mackenzie joined St. Albert-based Team Bakos last year, and spent the winter driving up to Edmonton multiple times each month to train with the rink, while competing at bonspiels around the province, as well. The team’s season highlight was representing Alberta at the Canada Winter Games, where it finished the tournament in fifth place with a 7-3 record. Getting to compete at both the Canada Winter Games and the national championships in the same year is rare, according to Mackenzie, as the Canada Winter Games only occurs every four years and often overlaps with the provincial championships. “To be competing again at a national event will be unbelievable,” she said. “We didn’t think it would be possible. Originally, at the beginning of the year, the team that went to the Canada Winter Games wasn’t able to compete at provincials, but they changed the date.” Rather than compete at other bonspiels in the lead-up to nationals, Mackenzie said, Team Bakos enjoyed a brief period of rest following the provincial championships in Medicine Hat. “This week, it’s just about resting, as we need to mentally and physically prepare for nationals,” she said. “We’re going to be playing a lot of games.”
