Jaelyn Cotter and her father Jim Cotter in action at the Canadian mixed doubles curling trials in Liverpool, N.S. on Thursday, Jan.2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Michael Burns **MANDATORY CREDIT**
LIVERPOOL, N.S. – Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter clinched first place in Pool A with an 8-6 win over Paige Papley and Evan Van Amsterdam in the final preliminary-round draw Thursday at the Canadian mixed doubles curling trials.
Tran and Klieter (6-1) took a 7-3 lead with a steal of three in the fourth end and cruised to victory.
Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher also finished at 6-1 following a 6-4 win over Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing, but they lost to Tran and Kleiter on Wednesday and settled for second.
Despite the loss, Jones and Laing finished third in the pool and qualified for the playoffs at 4-3 after Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres lost 7-5 to Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock (2-5).
Walker and Muyres also finished 4-3 but Jones and Laing held the tiebreaker.
Jessica Zheng and Victor Pietrangelo (3-4) posted a 7-4 win over Robert Desjardins and Anne-Sophie Gionest (1-6) in the other match of the final round-robin draw.
Earlier, Lisa Weagle and John Epping locked up second place in Pool B, while the father-daughter team of Jim and Jaelyn Cotter also advanced to the playoffs with a win in Thursday’s early draw.
Weagle and Epping finished the preliminary round with a 5-2 record after posting a 9-5 win over Tyrel Griffith and Jennifer Armstrong (3-4).
The victors put the game away after following a three-point fifth end with back-to-back steals of one.
The Cotters (4-3) locked up third spot in the group with an 8-7 win over Riley Sandham and Brendan Craig (1-6).
That moved the Cotters into a tie with defending champions Kadriana and Colton Lott. The Cotter team had the tiebreak after defeating the Lotts earlier in the tournament.
The Lotts missed a chance to advance after losing 9-6 to Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, who finished undefeated in pool play at 7-0.
In Thursday’s other early result, Taylor Reese-Hansen and Corey Chester (2-5) posted an 8-4 win over Melissa Adams and Alex Robichaud (2-5).
Tran and Kleiter were set to face Weagle and Epping while Peterman and Gallant were scheduled to face Homan and Bottcher in Thursday’s opening playoff draw, with the winners advancing to the Page 1 versus 2 playoff game.
The losers will play one of the third-place team with a spot in the Page 3 versus 4 game on the line.
The winner of Friday’s 1v2 game advances directly to the final, while the loser plays the winner of the 3v4 game for the other spot in Saturday’s championship game.
The trials winner can represent Canada in the 2026 Olympic Games if the duo also finishes high enough at the 2025 world championship to qualify their country for Italy.
The Olympic field will include the top eight ranked countries in the world, or the top seven plus host Italy if the Italians aren’t in the top eight. Canada currently ranks fifth.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2025.
