Persinger, Plys keep rolling at Olympic trials for mixed doubles curling

Vicky Persinger acknowledged the situation isn't ideal. She lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. Her mixed doubles curling partner, Chris Plys, lives in Duluth.

That distance melts away when they're on the ice. Teammates since 2018, the duo's unity carried it to a victory Saturday in the playoffs of the Olympic trials, putting Persinger and Plys into Sunday's final. The winner of the championship match at Curl Mesabi in Eveleth, Minn., will represent the U.S. at an Olympic qualifier next month, where two teams will earn berths in the mixed doubles competition at the Beijing Olympics in February.

Persinger/Plys, the top seed for the playoffs, advanced to the final with an 8-4 victory over the No. 2-seeded team of Sarah Anderson and Korey Dropkin. Anderson/Dropkin will play the team of Jamie Sinclair/Rich Ruohonen in a Sunday morning semifinal, with the winner moving on to the championship game.

Persinger/Plys and Anderson/Dropkin both went 6-3 to top the standings in round-robin play. Saturday, Persinger/Plys rolled to a 7-0 lead at the midpoint of the eight-end match, and Anderson/Dropkin could not catch up.

"It feels good to make the final," Persinger said. "Tomorrow is a new day. No matter who is out there, we're going to have to be at our best."

Sinclair/Ruohonen beat Cory Christensen/John Shuster 8-5 in a tiebreaker at 8 a.m. Saturday, then had about two hours to prepare for a playoff game against Tabitha Peterson/Joe Polo. Peterson/Polo also won a morning tiebreaker to advance, defeating 2018 Olympians Matt and Becca Hamilton 8-5.

Sinclair, who lives in Minneapolis, and Ruohonen, of Brooklyn Park, won a taut match 6-5. They stole a point in the sixth end when Peterson/Polo were on the power play, and Sinclair wrapped up the victory with a draw to the button on the game's final shot.

"[The steal] was huge. That was the game," Ruohonen said. "To get a steal in that situation doesn't happen hardly at all. We said we were going to go hard for it, and we did it."

Persinger/Plys played consistently throughout the week. They were upset Friday night in their final round-robin match but got back on track in the playoffs.

The duo beat Anderson/Dropkin during round-robin play and used precision and teamwork to top them again in the playoffs. Persinger/Plys scored one point in each of the first two ends, then added four points in the third end when Anderson misfired on her last shot.

Anderson/Dropkin got two points in the fifth end and two more in the seventh. They conceded in the eighth end.

"Vicky and I both pride ourselves on our shooting ability, and our ability to be consistent," Plys said. "We're just taking what the ice gives us and making adjustments when we need to."

Sinclair and Ruohonen decided to team up in early 2020, right before COVID-19 hit. They practice and work out together regularly, but with last year's competition calendar wiped out by the pandemic, they have played only 30 to 35 games together.

Their teamwork has made up for their lack of tournament experience. The duo won three of its last four games in the round robin to finish 5-4 and reach the tiebreaker round. In the playoff opener against Peterson/Polo, Sinclair/Ruohonen prevailed in a back-and-forth match.

The score was tied 4-4 after five ends. Peterson/Polo hoped to score multiple points in the sixth end with the power play, but instead, they gave up one.

Though Peterson/Polo tied the score 5-5 in the seventh end, Sinclair/Ruohonen had the last shot of the match, and Sinclair's perfect draw gave her team the only point it needed.

"It's been a really intense week," Sinclair said. "Every team playing in this event had a shot at winning it. And COVID took a lot of tournaments away from us. Just getting back into the competitiveness of a meaningful competition like this has been physically and mentally tiring."