Stones & Stripes

Last 5U teams qualify, brief preview of mixed nationals, and my experience at worlds.

I’ve known all season that the run from January through early April was going to be a fun but incredibly busy 2.5-month stretch. It was all of that and more, but I can’t imagine it finishing up in any better way than getting to cover the 2026 World Men’s Curling Championships in Ogden, Utah.

If you have the chance to watch some of the best teams in the world curl in person, do what you can to go. We had some really great crowds on opening weekend, and the Sunday afternoon draw with Canada vs USA while Scotland was on the adjacent sheet was a really fun experience.

I was attending as a member of the media, and I cannot speak highly enough of all of the players who came through the Mixed Zone throughout the course of the week. I know a number of curlers got to interact with and meet players after games and during some of the post-event festivities.

Hopefully more of these events can come to the United States in the future. This past season saw the (now-defunct) Pan-Continental Curling Championships, a Slam, and the World Men’s Curling Championship all take place in the USA. It’s been nearly 25 years since the last time the United States hosted a women’s worlds (2002, Bismarck), hopefully we can see the world’s best back again soon.

Onto the results from 5-and-Under curling over the past month!

5-and-Under Qualifier Results

Dakota Territory Five-and-Under (Drayton, ND)

Winner: Kunkel (Coyotes Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Danielson (Last Chance Curling Club)

The Dakota Territory 5U welcomed teams from around the country to their unique qualifier format where both a Dakota champion and bonspiel champion are named, but the two may not be the same.

Eight Dakota teams were placed into two pools while a third pool consisted of non-Dakota teams. The Dakota pools faced each other while the non-Dakota pool had a round robin of its own. Zach Vig defeated Jason Danielson in the Dakota Territory championship. Because Vig had already qualified for nationals, it was Danielson who faced off with an undefeated Jeff Kunkel to determine who would earn a spot at the national championship.

Kunkel’s long trek to Drayton, North Dakota paid off with a dominant performance and a return trip to the 5U national championships where they’ll try to upgrade from last year’s bronze medal performance.

Host Qualifier (Seattle, WA)

Winner: Neumann
Runner-Up: Parrish

Seattle’s internal qualifier to determine their host team for 5U nationals had an impressive 9 teams signed up. As a format nerd, I was excited to see this was the first 5U qualifying event I can recall seeing a page playoff.

The top two teams from each pool played each other while the second-place teams from each pool also faced off on a Sunday night. The winner of the top-seeded teams went straight to the final, the losing team played in a semifinal against the winner of the second-place teams. It’s rare for a good opportunity to put this format to use, and Seattle picked a great time for it.

Kevin Neumann and Cyndi Parrish were the top teams from their groups in pool play, and Parrish won the 1v2 page playoff to have the direct berth in the finals. Neumann dropped to the semifinals but was able to get back to the finals for a rematch, and this time, the script was flipped.

After scoring two with the hammer in the fourth end to take the lead, Neumann’s rink would go on to steal the 5th, 6th, and 7th ends to take the victory and earn the home team slot at nationals. All four members of Team Neumann curled at the 2024 5U Nationals in Chaska.

Denver Five-and-Under (Golden, CO)

Winner: Swift (Denver Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Green (Bucks County Curling Club)

For the third straight year, the final dedicated ice 5U qualifier of the season took place in Denver, and it was a strong 32-team field of many Colorado teams as well as a number of teams taking their final swing at qualifying for nationals. Three teams in the field were at nationals last year, including reigning champion Darren Campbell’s rink, and all three teams qualified for the semifinals.

Campbell, however, was unseated in the semifinal by Denver’s Ryan Swift squad. Swift played in just one other qualifier this year, losing in the semifinals of Frogtown to eventual qualifier winner, Trevor Wysocki. In the other semifinal, Rob Green’s rink, a combination of multiple national championship teams from last year, defeated Dillon Wright in the semifinal. Two of the members of Team Green won the final in Denver last season and were seeking a return to the top again this year.

In the final, Green started out with a score of two with the hammer, but it was all Swift after that. Swift scored two in the second and put constant pressure on the Bucks County rink in following ends. Outside of a 4th-end blank, Swift earned steals of multiple points in three ends to force a concession after six to win the qualifier on their home ice.

The Space Race (Hunstville, AL)

Winner: Mack (Kettle Moraine, Rocket City Curling Clubs)
Runner-Up: Martin (Rocket City Curling Club)

Once again, the 5-and-Under qualifier calendar came to an end in Huntsville, Alabama, perhaps (and hopefully, for their sake) the last time this event will be held on shared ice. Rocket City Curling Club is aiming for a dedicated curling rink opening in early 2027.

32 teams splashed down in the Rocket City for the bracket-style event. No streaming was available, but I always appreciate a bonspiel who puts their scores on bonspieler.com making tracking much easier for fans! The final featured two teams with members of the team from the home club.

In the final, Bekka Mack’s rink was powered by a big score of 4 points in the 5th end followed by a steal in the 6th end, but Robert Martin stormed back with a score of 3 in the 7th end to tie the game. Mack would go on to score 1 in the final end to take the victory. After opening the event with a strong victory, Mack would go into the final end of every one of the remaining four games tied. They managed the victory each time.

Bekka and George Mack had already qualified for the 5-and-Under National Championship earlier in the season, but because they played with a 5-person team in Huntsville, those three players are eligible for their own team at nationals. Brad Hammond of Rocket City will be joined by Sara Hammond, Matt Wagoner, and David Wagoner for this team in Seattle.

Due to repeat winners across other events this season, Team Martin also qualified for nationals as the 24th and final team in the event.

Mixed Fours National Championship

The final event of the Regions Cup season begins next week Wednesday at Denver Curling Club. All regions will be represented again this season. An additional berth was awarded to the host club (Denver), meaning that the Mid-America region will have a second berth in the field. By virtue of having the largest playdown in the country, the Wisconsin region was also awarded a second berth.

Both of the finalists from last season, Falco (MACA) and Roth (Wisconsin) are the top seeds in their respective pools. Falco looks to win their third consecutive national championship and return to the World Mixed National Championship after the event was skipped this past season. Roth hopes to join them coming off her first club national championship victory.

The teams will be facing some stiff competition. Joining Falco will be the Dunnam (GNCC) and Workin (Dakota) rinks. Dunnam is coming off a 3-4 record at the men’s national championships with his brother Scott. Workin made the playoffs at mixed nationals last year, went 2-5 at men’s nationals with Tim Hodek, and is coming off a playoff appearance at club nationals just a couple weeks ago.

Joining Roth is Courtney Benson (Minnesota) who we saw finish in 4th place at the 2025 Duluth nationals and includes teammates who are no strangers to national championships. Gabrielle Coleman’s rink (MoPac) should figure to be a tough out coming off of a strong mixed doubles season for Coleman and her mixed doubles teammate, vice Connor Robertson. Also in this group is Darrick Kizlyk’s (MACA) host team playing on their home ice after just missing out on playoffs last year due to tiebreakers.

My Picks

Gold: Falco
Silver: Roth
Bronze: Benson

As mentioned earlier, Falco is aiming for his third consecutive mixed national championship and was looking like one of the best teams in the field at the world mixed in their lone appearance before an untimely loss in the playoffs. I’ll be boring and go with the two-time reigning champions facing off against a familiar opponent in the final.

The playoffs are sure to be a bloodbath. I could see a number of teams coming into contention for a spot on the podium.

Up Next…

My final national championship previews of the season are on the way. Part one should be ready to go in a little over a week from today!

Until then, good curling!