LCI’s mixed curling team earns a provincial title

By Lethbridge Herald on February 27, 2024.

SUBMITTED PHOTO From left, LCI Ôs mixed curling team of Kamille de Jong (lead), Art Andizo (second), Liv Swift (third), Rhett Whittmire (skip), Kale Higginson (alternate), and Cory Hoffner (coach) celebrate after winning the provincial championship.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The LCI mixed curling team won their third mixed ASAA  provincial curling title as a program over the weekend in Drayton Valley.

LCI ended a long Saturday with a 6-4 win in the final against Edmonton’s Anne Anderson High School.

The road to the gold medal and provincial banner was tough as LCI had played three previous games that day leading up to the final in over a 12-hour span.

The team had gone into Saturday having lost two of their first three round robin games before beating Sexsmith in the morning draw, which set up a tie-breaker game between the two teams in which LCI had won.

“I’m really impressed with the way the team shook off our losses and battled back on Saturday,” said skip Rhett Whittmire.

“It was a daunting task to start the day with a chance of being eliminated, I think we all thought we were going home.”

The crew then went on to beat Sylvan Lake, the team who was previously undefeated in Pool A, 7-4 in the semi-final to earn themselves a berth in the final.

“I’m very impressed with the fight they put up and their endurance during the day where we played four games,” said Whittmire.

“To be able to win gold and represent our school like that, it was just unreal. I truly could not have done it without my team and their dedication over the past few months. It was very meaningful to be able to get gold in my senior year (and) no better way to end my time at LCI.”

Livia Swift was one of the first years on the team.

“It was a lot about staying positive because the other team is really good at doing their draws,” said Swift.

“I guess for us, we had to stay confident with our shots.”

Four out of the six players were new to curling this year.

“They relied very heavily on the experience of Rhett because he has been curling since he was a little kid,” said coach Dave Fletcher.

“But Rhett I think was just able to get so much out of these guys and like Liv said, just to stay calm, and to stay relaxed and to stay joyful. So much of the time I watched them out there, they’re smiling and they’re laughing. Even though they were down ,(and) even …  the games that they ended  up losing, … they just stayed positive and they  kept playing, so it was really good to see.”

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