Submitted by Jim Force to Wausau Pilot & Review
A team skipped by Wausau West graduate Wes Wendling won the national junior men’s curling championship over the weekend in Eau Claire.
Team Cenzalli went undefeated through the eight-team round-robin play, and then defeated the Caden rink from Eau Claire 8-4 in the championship game to earn the right to represent the U.S. at the 2025 world junior championships in Italy next year.
It will be the second trip to world competition for Wendling, who skipped the U.S. team to a fourth-place finish at the worlds this year in Finland.
Jim Wendling, curling coach at Wausau West, coached the team which included Nicholas Cenzalli, Dan Laufer, Shaheen Bassin, Dylan Ciapka, and Wendling.
The team navigated through several one-score victories to get to the finals.
They lost their first playoff game 5-4 but battled back with a 9-6 win over the Mason Guentzel rink from St. Paul to qualify for the final match. They pulled away with a 6-1 lead after five ends against Caden to win the title.
