Recapping the Mixed Fours and 5-and-Under National Championships and an exciting finish of the inaugural Regions Cup
The calendar is about to flip to May. Hockey and basketball playoffs are in full swing while the baseball season ramps up. The golf clubs are getting ready show me that I’m the problem (again). That can only mean one thing:
Another championship season wrapping up for curlers across the United States.
Just a few days ago, the 5-and-Under National Championship wrapped up in Seattle, Washington. One week prior, new champions of the Mixed Fours National Championship were crowned in Denver, Colorado. Coincidentally, I was actually in Seattle and the Denver areas while each of these championships were happening, but I was in each place for entirely non-pebbled ice reasons. While I tried to find a way to get myself to each club for some brief “on-the-ground” coverage, my life did not find a way.
Thankfully, we are in the year 2026 and hosts of each of these championships have live streaming, so I, along with everyone else, could tune in. Let’s get into it.
5-and-Under National Championship
Gold: Kunkel (Coyotes Curling Club)
Silver: Gilbert (Oval Curling Club)
Bronze: Dei (Potomac Curling Club)
One season ago, Jeff Kunkel was in the 5-and-Under semifinals in St. Paul against another team from Coyotes Curling Club. His team stole in the 8th end but came up short. They went on to win the bronze medal while he watched his fellow club members win the championship. For a moment, it looked like he might end up with a similar fate in Seattle.
Kunkel’s rink was again playing without hammer in the extra end of a semifinal after tying the game in the 8th end. This time, though, he was able to make his final shot and forced Trevor Wysocki to throw against the loss. When Wysocki’s rock overcurled, last year’s bronze medalists guaranteed themselves a medal upgrade in 2026.
They would face off against a familiar opponent, Team Gilbert from the Oval Curling Club. Gilbert and Kunkel both advanced to the playoffs from Pool D, with Kunkel going undefeated and Gilbert having the Draw Shot Challenge edge to win the three-way tie for second. The lone arena club team in the playoffs, Gilbert won the quarterfinals in an extra and blanked the 8th end to win their semifinal to rematch Kunkel in the championship.
The Coyotes team won the first matchup when they broke open the game with a score of four in the fourth end of pool play, and they wasted no time in repeating a similar feat in the rematch of the desert states on championship ice. Jeff Kunkel immediately was comfortable loading up the four-foot-circle with hammer in the first end of the championship game, and he was rewarded for his efforts as Team Kunkel made shot after shot to start the game. Gilbert was forced to chase throughout the first end, but for every half-miss from the Utahns, the Arizonans had a full-shot answer, resulting in a score of 5 to kick off the game.
The Oval rink would do well to stay competitive, entering the 8th end down by three without hammer, but the early deficit proved to be too much. Gilbert ran out of rocks, and Team Kunkel earned the second consecutive 5U national championship for Coyotes Curling Club, an impressive feat considering the victories came at the hands of two different teams.
For Gilbert, the fourth-year curlers achieved the highest finish at the 5-and-Under National Championship for an arena-based team since USA Curling took over the event in 2022. They are the first arena curlers to medal at this event.
In the bronze medal game, Potomac Curling Club’s Team Dei defeated Stevens Point Curling Club’s Team Wysocki 7-4. The win was secured by Josh Dei making this fantastic shot to run Wysocki out of rocks in the final end. The win game made Sharp and Hornlein the first women of a 4-person team to step on the podium at the 5-and-Under National Championships since this became a sanctioned event by the national governing body. They join Sydney Jorgensen as the only women to win a medal in this event. Jorgensen, a rotational player with the 5-person Team Meyer, won a silver medal in 2024 in Chaska.
Mixed Fours National Championship
Gold: Workin (Dakota)
Silver: Falco (Mid-America)
Bronze: Roth (Wisconsin)
In June 2024, World Curling announced they would be cancelling the 2025 World Mixed Curling Championship due to the addition of Olympic Qualifying Events to their calendar for the 2025-2026 season. The governing body of the sport shared in the same announcement that the event would return in 2026-2027. As a result, Team Falco’s back-to-back wins of the Mixed National Championship resulted in just one trip to worlds.
Their attempt to win three consecutive national championships was thwarted by Team Workin at Denver Curling Club. Evan Workin’s upended Falco 8-2 in their final game of pool play to earn the number one seed in their pool and get a bye to the semifinal. They won their semifinal against Denver’s Darrick Kizlyk with Workin hitting the paint to score one with the hammer in the final end of a tie game.
The final between Falco and Workin was a tight one. Workin made a hit to score two with the hammer in the 6th end, taking a 4-2 lead, but the game was far from over. Falco scored one with hammer in the 7th and then stole a point in the 8th to force an extra end when Workin’s last shot did not curl enough to take out the Falco shot stone.
In the extra end, Evan Workin found himself once again throwing at a Falco stone behind a guard, though this time it was more exposed. The second time was the charm for Workin as he was able to make the hit to score three and take the victory. This win put Team Workin back on top of the podium for the first time since 2018 when they won their first Mixed National Championship.
Barring any changes from World Curling, the Workin rink will represent the United States at the 2026 World Mixed Curling Championship.
Regions Cupdates
When USA Curling first announced the Regions Cup last summer, they were still working on a points system with the hopes they could find a system where everything would still be up in the air come the final points-earning championship of the season, Mixed Fours. It’s hard to imagine any better of an outcome for the first go-around.
Entering Mixed Fours National Championship, the Minnesota region led the way with 85 points, followed by Mid-America with 75 points, and Dakota with 69 points. Not only did the championship come down to the final championship of the year, it came down to the final shot. When Workin made his shot to secure the championship, he also secured the Regions Cup for the Dakota region with 94 points, one point clear of Minnesota and MACA.
Dakota’s win of the Regions Cup was effectively secured through the first and last championships of the season. Morgan Weber led off the Cup calendar winning gold at arena nationals to be the only other champion from the Dakota Territory Curling Association. They were also buoyed by a second-place finish from Miles Grabow at the U18 National Championships in January.
With such a successful first iteration of the Regions Cup, I’m guessing USA Curling will keep the existing format for a second year, but it’s hard to imagine any scenario having a more exciting finish than this.
More to Come…
The great 20th century philosopher Dan Wilson once wrote, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”
The 2025-2026 championship season is done, but that just means the 2026-2027 season is already underway with regions already completing their playdowns for the 2026 Arena National Championships.
I’ll have more on those playdowns and the exciting announcement of Dallas-Fort Worth Curling Club hosting that championship in their new facility in my next newsletter. But for now, it’s Closing Time for this newsletter.
Until next time, as always, good curling.
Stones & Stripes 
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