Jason and Joel Larway are headed back to the 2007 U.S. National Men’s Curling Championships.
As Team Larway, the brothers earned a trip to the Utica Curling Club with their victory at the Western Regional Qualifying Playdowns Jan. 6 at Seattle’s Granite Curling Club.
Jason (Lynnwood) and Joel Larway (Mukilteo) along with teammates Colin Hufman and Steven Demlow defeated Team Clark (Brady Clark, Greg Romaniuk,Derek Surka, Bill Rugen) 9-4 to finish the tournament with a perfect 5-0 record.
Team Clark finished with a record of 3-2 but will get another chance of reaching the U.S. National Championship by gaining entry into the U.S. Curling Challenge Round Jan. 24-28 in Mankato, Minn. The winner of the 2007 U.S. Men’s National Curling Championship will move on to represent the United States at the 2007 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship, March 31-April 8 in Edmonton, Alberta.
For Jason Larway, this will mark his 13th time playing for the U.S. National Curling Championship and his 12th alongside Joel. Jason first played in the national championships as a member of Jim Vuckich’s rink in 1989. That team went on to win the national championship and represented the U.S. at the 1989 World Curling Championship in Milwaukee, Wisc.
Jason and Joel began curling together competitively the following season and reached the U.S. National Championship together in 1992, which they won. They then moved on to win a bronze medal at the 1992 World Curling Championship in Garmisch-Parten-Kirchen, Germany. They also won the U.S. National Championships in 2001 (Lausanne, Switzerland) and 2004 (Gavle, Sweden).
In other games at the Granite Curling Club on Jan. 6, Team Romaniuk defeated Team Pleasants 7-3 and Seattle’s Team Beighton beat Utah’s Team Taggart 9-4 in six ends. Clark, Romaniuk and Pleasants all finished tied for second place with 3-2 records, but tiebreakers allowed Clark to earn entry into the 2007 Challenge Round.
As the skip or captain of his team, Clark is looking to make his seventh trip to the U.S. National Curling Championship, where he finished third in 2006 and 2005.
Nationals are scheduled for Feb. 17-24 in Utica, N.Y.
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