Kamiak grad just misses out on Olympic medal

BEIJING — Sean Beighton came oh so close to winning an Olympic medal. Unfortunately, he’ll be coming home empty-handed.

The Kamiak High School graduate, who coaches the men’s curling team representing the U.S. at the Winter Olympics, saw his team finish in fourth place after falling to Canada in the bronze-medal match early Friday morning.

Team Shuster, which won the gold medal in 2018 in PyeongChang, South Korea, when Phill Drobnick was the team’s coach, finished 5-4 in round-robin play to place fourth in the standings, beating Denmark 7-5 during the final round-robin session to secure the last spot in the semifinals.

However, the U.S. lost to top-seeded Great Britain 8-4 in the semis to drop into the bronze-medal match against Canada. Against Canada, the U.S. took a 5-4 lead by scoring two in the sixth end. But Canada was able to blank the seventh, scored two with the hammer in the eighth, then stole two in the ninth to go ahead 8-5. The U.S. conceded in the 10th after Canada skip Brad Gushue doubled two U.S. stones out of the rings, leaving the U.S. with no stones in the house with just two stones remaining.

Beighton’s other team at the Olympics, the U.S. mixed-doubles pairing of Chris Plys and Vicky Persinger, finished tied for seventh.