The rocks were falling into place for the Carleton Ravens women’s curling team this year.
The team has returned from two competitions that took place within the course of one week, the first of those being the Winter Universiade in Granada, Spain.
It was followed by the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships in Guelph.
The team came back from Spain with a silver medal, and earned a fourth-place finish at the OUA championships.
The Ravens faced the University of Guelph in a close match for the bronze medal at the OUA championships on Feb. 24.
Carleton lead 7-5 after the seventh end, but Guelph began to widen the gap with two in the eighth and ninth, putting them ahead 9-7 for the final score.
With jet lag and a two-day turnaround from their trip to Spain affecting them, Ravens lead Jessica Armstrong said they were ”pretty happy” with the result of the OUAs.
“This year we were a little disappointed coming in fourth and just coming shy of qualifying to go to nationals again,” she said.
The team was coming off a “fantastic” experience at the Universiade, which climaxed in a match-up with a battle for gold with an Olympic-level Russian team Feb. 13.
Both Armstrong and second Lynn Kreviazuk said facing the Russian team, whose members had competed at the Olympics, was a highlight of the games.
“It was not only a great event, but we got to really experience high-level competition,” Kreviazuk said.
The team booked their ticket to Spain last year by winning the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championship in March 2014.
This gave the team a year to raise funds and prepare for training, Kreviazuk said.
“We did everything in our power to best prepare for this event,” she said.
Armstrong said the team worked with specialists to perfect their technique and a sports psychologist to ensure the team would be putting their best rocks forward.
But aside from that, the team had to work on funding as well.
The team is considered competitive, meaning expenses for championships such as the OUAs and CIS nationals have to be paid by the team members.
Over the course of a year, the team held multiple fundraisers to help pay for training.
In November, the team held a charity event at the Hunt Club Golf and Curling Club, raising almost $10,000.
The Canadian Curling Association covered the cost for the actual trip to Spain.
In five years of activity, this is the first time they have traveled to the Universiade games, which are held every two years.
For Armstrong and third Lauren Horton, it was the first time they had competed at an international level.
Armstrong said it is “hopefully the first of many” times she represents Canada.
This was the second time wearing the maple leaf for Kreviazuk and she said she hopes to continue the trend as well.
Kreviazuk is currently coaching and competing on the women’s circuit and aims to represent Canada at the Olympics one day.
She graduated in 2014, but was able to participate in the Universiade because she was on the team that qualified last year at the CIS championship, and therefore did not go to the OUA championships.
Armstrong is in her second year and said she hopes the team will be able to make it back to the CIS championship.
Kreviazuk said she is “hopeful that they will be able to repeat our success in the future.”
