By Jim Force | Special to Wausau Pilot & Review
High school curling teams from Stevens Point and Poynette out-curled the rest to win the state high school championships this past weekend at the Wausau Curling Center.
Point defeated Portage in the boys’ final match. In the girls’ competition, Poynette defeated Point, to repeat as state champions.
Teams from Wausau West reached the semi-final game in both the boys’ and girls’ tournaments.
West was the defending champion on the boys’ side.
The tournament was played in front of a packed house throughout games on Friday and Saturday. Wausau West’s Jim Wendling and Portage’s Jim Schlimovitz coordinated the event, which drew curlers from 15 high schools.
In addition to the West teams, Wausau East and D.C. Everest curlers also competed.
High school curling can be traced to the 1930s in Wausau, when young curlers from the high school won the Winter Frolic competition. After a rebirth following WWII, high school curling held its first boys’ state competition in 1959, and the first girls’ competition in 1976. Wausau teams have won the boys’ and girls’ state curling title 22 times over that period.
