TRAVERSE CITY—The strongest mixed doubles teams in the nation are being hosted by Traverse City Curling Club this week for the 2024 Mixed Doubles USA National Championship.
“The fact that the founders of this club opted to go all-in and get the best, puts us in a position to host a tournament like this,” Traverse City Curling Club executive director Kate Sterken said.
The Club opened just a year ago.
“I mean we play in a lot of arenas and other clubs that have been around for dozens of years so it’s cool to be in a facility that’s so new,” USCA National Team member Ben Richardson said. “I love how welcoming everyone is it feels like it’s already a curling club, it’s not a big arena it’s a community, and it’s just a beautiful town,” his partner, Taylor Anderson added.
The competition is headlined by multiple Olympians, making the path to the title a difficult one.
The pairs are competing to be the *top team* out of the tournament for the honor of representing Team USA at the World Championships in Sweden in late April.
“We’ve been trying to win this one for a while. It would mean a lot, especially with the level of competition here this week, to come out on top would be really special,” Richardson said.
The Championship is a 16-team field that is divided into two pools of eight, with the top three teams in each pool advancing to a single-elimination playoff round. The top finisher from each pool will advance to the semifinals. And while just one team will get the opportunity to go to Worlds, the top three teams will be awarded a 2025 Mixed Doubles Olympic Team Trials berth.