This season, 32 teams from around the nation converged on Chicago for the 2011 National College Curling Championships.

The teams were divided into four divisions, dependent on the experience of the players, with divisions one and two being reserved for players with more experience at curling, and divisions three and four being for newer curlers.

DU sent eight players to the NCCC’s this year with teams in both division two and division three.

The championships format was based on teams playing three round-robin matches on Friday and Saturday of the championships with the top two seeds playing for the gold medal, and the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds competing for the bronze on Sunday.

This year, neither one of DU’s teams made it home for Sunday brunch.

The curling club had one of their best performances at the national level yet, taking home two medals, with DU’s division two team winning silver, and the Division 3 team winning bronze.

DU’s division two team was comprised of Whitney Nguyen, a freshman, Brandon Reich-Sweet a freshman, Scott Bleiweis, a Korbel School Graduate Student, and Derek Aoki, a junior, the acting president of the Curling team.

The division three team also featured multiple freshmen including, Andrew Bustrack and Sam Provorse. In addition, Cailey Salegovic, a sophomore, and Marty Witt, a Morgridge College of Education graduate student, also made the team.

Both teams advanced to their respective championship games in unconventional ways. The D3 team won their first regular match 13-3 against Villanova, but then lost their next two games by razor-thin margins to Boston University and University of Wisconsin-Superior.

DU managed to make it into the D3 Bronze Medal game because of the “Warm Draw,” a contest occurring before match play in which teams attempt to throw four stones as close to a certain spot as possible.

DU’s D3 team performed especially well in the Warm Draw, and as a result were able to make it into the Bronze game, despite losing two of their three regular match games.

On Sunday, the Bronze Medal championship game went to “extra ends,” which is essentially curling’s version of overtime.

DU managed to win the game 7-6 against Marquette.

“The game was super high tension,” Provorse said.. “It came down to the last throw.”

The D2 team had a similarly exciting run, with an unforgettable comeback in their second match against Bowling Green State University.

After losing a close game to Hamilton College in their first regular game, DU started out their second game rather poorly – the team was down by a whopping 8-1 margin midway through the game. The team managed to climb back to a 9-4 deficit going into the last section of play, still a steep climb by any means.

“In curling, if you’re down by that much going into the last ends, you have the option of conceding early,” said freshman Brandon Reich-Sweet. “There was some talk about doing that, but we decided as a team to go for it.”

“The score seemed like an insurmountable lead to overcome, but in curling, momentum can change at any time,” Reich-Sweet continued. “You’re never really out of it.”

For the last ends, Denver decided to simplify their strategy.

“There are times when you try to set up shots, and you take more risks,” Reich-Sweet explained. “We just got to the point where it was: we needed to win this ends by so much, that all of those little strategic things lost importance and we just had to get back to basics.”

The team focused on keeping as many stones in play as possible. They had the last throw in the end, a throw which ended up tying the game for DU. The game was forced into extra ends, in which DU won by one point.

The momentum carried into their third game against Villanova’s first and best team, before which the DU team collectively decided: “Let’s not let this be close.” DU toppled Villanova 10-0.

Unfortunately, the momentum did not continue into the championship match, where DU lost to Villanova’s second team 9-2.

Being able to take home silver, however, was still a lesson in determination for the DU Curling Club.

“If we had chosen to not play that last end against Bowling Green, we never would have even been in medal contention,” said Reich-Sweet.

The experience of taking home two medals was inspiring, especially for the new members of the DU curling squad. One excited new member, freshman Sam Provorse, said that he “definitely plans on returning to Nationals next year.”

The future looks good for this now established club.