The Michigan Tech curling club finished second for the second straight year in the USA College Curling National Championships in Midland, Michigan. Posing with the banner (from left): Gordon MaClean, Owen Stephenson, Joseph Sharland, Tyler Magnuson, Bryce Doering, Rese Elza, and Gracie Kohn. (Provided photo)

HOUGHTON — For the second year in a row, the Michigan Tech curling club has reached the podium at the USA College Curling National Championships.

Earlier this month, they earned a silver medal as they fell to the defending 2024 champions University of Wisconsin-Madison. Their second-place finish this season was one step up from a year ago when they earned bronze.

The national championship was held in Midland, Michigan, in the first weekend in March, and had 16 teams from around the nation competing for a gold medal.

Qualifying teams came as far as Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in the East and in the West as far Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.

“To earn back-to-back medals is something to be proud of in the college curling championships,” noted Michigan Tech coach Gordon Maclean. “For Madison to win gold two years in a row was a first as well. No team has ever won gold back-to-back in this tournament.”

The tournament consisted of four pools of four teams. Tech went 3-0 in pool play and made it to the finals where the played strong but lost 5-3 to the Madison squad.

“We competed well in the finals, but just ran out of rocks toward the end,” Maclean explained.

According to Huskies Curl club president Gracie Kohn, the silver medal was a fitting finish to a shiny season.

“We had a great year,” she said. “We had 30 new active members and 12 to 15 who regularly came to practices in Calumet (Copper Country Curling Club). We have a very active team here.”

The top-six players earned a spot on the Huskies’ championship team. Along with Kohn were teammates Rese Elza, Bryce Doering and Tyler Magnuson.

Owen Stephenson and Joe Sharland came as alternates.

“I am very happy and proud of how well we played together this season,” Kohn added. “We represented Tech at nationals and throughout this season as well.”

She and Maclean said that good weather as in a cold, long winter also helped. The Drill House, in Calumet, where the Huskies practice, is the nation’s only natural-ice curling facility. In short, the Keweenaw curling community is relying on Mother Nature to keep things cool and not refrigerated pipes under the ice.

“At Penn State, whom we beat, they are able to get on the ice at their campus facility in September,” Maclean noted. “For us here, we are starting in December at best. So, we have such a limited time, and we have accomplished so much. Our season is an intense one of just a few weeks. That is the real story here.”

For Elza, a third-year student studying exercise science, to compete at nationals in Midland was a dream come true. She grew up curling in Midland — starting when she was in middle school.

“There were so many family and friends cheering me on,” she said with a smile. “I definitely had home-ice advantage.”

This was Elza’s last season with the club. She will graduate in December of this year, and she said she couldn’t have planned a better sendoff.

“We had a great season with great weather and fantastic teammates,” she stated. “We took advantage of that and worked hard to get things done.”