News

The 2025-26 season at the Wausau Curling Center will be highlighted by the National Senior Men’s Curling championships to be held here Feb 19-22, 2026.

The event, sponsored by the U.S. Senior Men’s Curling Association (USSMCA) is expected to bring 80 teams—and several hundred curlers-- to the local ice. Some of the early games will also be played at the Medford and Stevens Point curling facilities.

Competitors must be age 55 and over. There are divisions for different age curlers including Super Seniors for those over 63 and Masters for curlers over 68 years of age.

The public will be welcome to attend the curling action.

The Wausau Curling Club continues to host important national curling events at its state-of-the-art 8-sheet curling center on Curling Way in southeast Wausau, bringing hundreds of visitors to the community.

The 2025-26 curling season will open in late October.

This is a winter Olympic year and officials note that interest in curling always peaks during the Winter Games.

Wausau, WI – Over 150 high school curlers gathered at theWausau Curling Center Friday and Saturday, Feb. 14-15, for the state curling championships.

The Portage girls won the state title with a win over Wausau West in the final match. The Portage boys team followed suit, winning the the state championship over Stevens Point. 

In addition to the winning teams, Wausau East, DC Everest, Monona Grove, Lodi, Pardeeville, Appleton East, Bloomer, Waupaca, Kimberly, Neenah, Marshfield, Medford, and Poynette sent high school teams to the curling event. A packed house watched the action all day Friday and Saturday.

The Portage girls’ team included Elizabeth Youra, Sophia Brom, Olivia Goldthorpe, and Katie Charles.  Curling for the runner up West team were Ella Wendling, Maggie Hintz, Caroline Kurth, Kenna McFadden, coached by Jim Wendling.

Portage boys team included EthanMacomber, Adam Hein, Jack Huebner, and Charley Murphy. The Stevens Point boys team was made up of Derek Brooks, Lukasz Dobbs, Ian Ekstrand, Samuel Enders and Evan Rust.

 The state curling championships date back to 1959 for boy’s competition, and 1976 for girl’s curling.

November 9, 2024

Lohja, Finland—Matt Thums and the US wheelchair curling team are coming home with gold medals they earned this morning at the World B Curling Championships in Finland.

Thums, from the Wausau Curling Club, and his teammates beat Japan 9-4 in the championship game, after winning their semi-final game last night against England, 8-7.
The win also guaranteed the US team, captained by Thums, a spot in the World Wheelchair Curling Championships next March in Scotland. Silver medalist Japan also qualified, as did England, which won the bronze.

Californians win gold at Arena National Curling championships at Wausau

10-27-24

Wausau, WI – The teams who traveled farthest were the biggest winners at the USA Curling Arena National Championships held at the Wausau Curling Center over the past week.

Team Asis from San Jose, CA, skipped by Jennifer Asis, won the women’s gold medal, defeating the defending national champions, the Segovia rink from Houston.

On the men’s side, the Spangler rink of Roseville, CA, skipped by Camren Spangler, won the gold with a win over the Ridder rink from Spokane, WA.

The Segovia and Ridder teams were awarded the silver medal.

The women’s bronze medal winners were the Katie Feldman rink, also from Roseville. The men’s bronze medalists were the Sam Curtis team from Huntsville, AL.

Defending Champs excited and confident.

10-20-24

Wausau, WI -- The defending champions in the USA Curling Arena National Championships in Wausau this week are excited to be coming here and confident they can win gold again.

Twelve women’s and 12 men’s teams from throughout the country will be on the local club’s ice beginning with practice rounds Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the Wausau Curling Center, 1920 Curling Way on the city’s southeast side. Competitive curling continues Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 24-27, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the gold, silver and bronze final games starting at 2 p.m., Sunday.

Wausau to Host National Arena Curling Championships, Oct. 23-27

Some of the best curling teams in the nation will be competing on the ice at the Wausau Curling Center, October 23-27, 2024.

The local club will be host to the 2024 National Arena Curling Championships featuring the top 12 men’s and top 12 women’s qualifying teams from throughout the United States.

Arena curling features teams who do not play at a dedicated curling rink but curl in their communities on ice used for a variety of activities like ice hockey or figure skating.

Canadians defeat Wausau curlers

November 10, 2024 UPDATE

Wausau, WI -- The Canadian men’s curling team continued its dominance of the U.S.-Canadian Can-Am Curling Cup yesterday at the Wausau Curling Club.

The Canadians defeated all local five teams with a total score of 50-19 in five matches on the Wausau Curling Club ice. It gave them an aggregate score of 420 to 257 across 11 competitions against US curling teams on the current tour.  Addtional coverage in this local news story.

The tour began in Duluth-Superior Nov. 2 and concludes Nov. 19 in Detroit. The tour visited the Medford, Marshfield and Stevens Point Curling Clubs over the weekend. Next, the tour heads to Waupaca and then to the Madison and Milwaukee areas.

The Wausau Curling Club has always been great in supporting Wes Wendling throughout the years and we thank you immensely for that.

This past year has been a great year for Wes including a silver at the Junior B’s and fourth place finishes at Junior Worlds and the US Men’s Championships. With winning the US Junior Nationals in Eau Claire this spring, Wes and his new teammates are planning for their return to Junior Worlds in the hope of a spot on the podium.

Team USA gets some support from the USCA, but not enough to pay for all of the expenses that are needed to prepare for the event. Some of what Wes has planned in the early stages of developing their team schedule includes:

• A session at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado
• Practice weeks out East to work with his teammates
• Bonspiels in Canada and around the US

To help reduce some of those costs, Team Wendling has established a business sponsorship opportunity for those businesses who wish to advertise on their travel sweatshirts, touring jerseys, and world jerseys.

For those individuals who wish to help out the team with smaller donations, you can donate to @teamwendling on Venmo. We greatly appreciate any support that you can offer the team as they begin their journey.

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Any questions?

Please contact Wes Wendling: 715-432-9272 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: Teamwendling.com

Instagram: Teamwendling

Facebook: Teamwendling

Thanks and Good Curling!

March 15, 2024

US team wheelchair curling team eliminated by Japan

There’s the grand slam in baseball, the touchdown bomb in football, and the big end in curling.

The U.S. Mixed Doubles Wheelchair curling team traded big ends with Japan at the World Championships in Korea last night, but the Japanese came out on top and eliminated the Americans in the quarter-finals, 9-8.

The loss came after the Matt Thums-Batoyun Oranchimeg team had gone undefeated in pool play, winning six straight.  In the game, the US fell behind early, but scored four in the fifth end to take a 6-3 lead. But the Japanese curlers came right back in the next end to score five and take the lead 8-6. The US closed the gap to 8-8 but a single rock in the final end secured the victory for Japan.

March 7, 2024

US Wheelchair Curlers End Quest a Game Short

The US Wheelchair curling team ended up a game out of the playoffs by splitting their final two curling matches yesterday.

A loss to Korea, 8-2, and an 11-3 win over the Czech Republic resulted in a 5-6 record , just a game behind Sweden which made the playoffs at 6-5. Other teams making the final rounds include China, Canada, Latvia, Korea and Norway.

US Junior Men’s Curling team Finishes 4th in Junior Men's World Curling Championships

The U.S. Junior Men’s Curling team fought back brilliantly in the bronze medal game this morning, but couldn’t overcome a big fifth end by the Danish men and lost 10-9.

In the gold medal game Norway defeated Italy 7-6, in another deep breather.

February 18, 2024

Wausau West Boys Win State Curling

Congratulations to the Wausau West boy’s curling team for outlasting the field Friday and Saturday and winning the high school state tournament.

The team of Hunter Britton, Micah Mathias, Ryan McCallum, and Carson Kirsch won the competition with a 9-7 victory over the team from Poynette in the final contest.

In the girl’s competition, it was a repeat of last year as Poynette defended their state title by outshooting Stevens Point.

Feb. 15, 2024

Wausau curling fans will be watching the World Junior Men’s Championships closely this week.

Two Wausau curlers—Wes Wendling, a Wausau West graduate, and Jackson Armstrong, Appleton native now curling at Wausau—are two of the four on the US team competing against the world’s best in Lohta, Finland. The team, which includes Jackson Bestland and Caden Hebert of Eau Claire, and Kevin Tuma of St.Paul, is one of 10 to make it to the Worlds. They qualified last year by finishing second and earning Silver medals at the World Junior B tournament, also in Finland.

February 1, 2024

TEAM USA WINS BRONZE

The U.S. youth mixed curling team of Wausau’s Ella Wendling and Eau Claire’s Benji Paral won a thrilling match over Sweden yesterday to take home the bronze medal.

Their final game at the Youth Olympics in Gangwon, Korea, was one of the most competitive of the eight they played in the 24-team competition.

With Sweden leading 4-3, the Americans tied the game in the last end, and then scored three in the extra end to seal the victory and the bronze medal.

In the gold medal game, Great Britain defeated Denmark.

Overall, Wendling and Paral went 5-0 in round-robin play to win their pool, then defeated Czechia in the quarter-finals, and lost 6-5 to Denmark in the semi-finals before their medal win last night.

The team was coached by Wausau West curling coach Jim Wendling.

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January 30, 2024

TEAM USA MIXED DOUBLES ADVANCES AT YOUTH OLYMPICS

The U.S. mixed doubles curling team, featuring Wausau West's Ella Wendling and Eau Claire's Benji Paral, defeated Ukraine 9-1 in six ends on Monday to assure the team a spot in the playoffs.

The win followed a crucial 8-3 win over Norway on Sunday before at the Youth Olympics in Gangwon, South Korea.

The pair now stands at 4-0 in pool play, with a match against Slovenia remaining.

According to Wausau West curling coach Jim Wendling, the Norway game went back and forth through the first four ends, before the Americans played a "fantastic fifth end and stole four to take a 7-2 lead." The US then gave up--or forced--just a single point in the sixth end, and came back to grab a point in the seventh and force Norway to call the game.

Against Ukraine, Team USA piled up an insurmountable lead and the game was called early. Earlier, the Americans had defeated Sweden and Qatar.

Action can be followed at http://www.olympics.com. The competition features youth teams in a range of winter sports, mirroring the Olympics.

1/14/2024

The Wisconsin girls’ team came up short in the final rounds at the U18 National Championships in Lafayette, Colorado, yesterday.

After winning their pool-play group, the team lost in the semi-finals to the Massachusetts girls, 9-0. In the third-place game, they were defeated 8-4 by Team Johnson of St. Paul.

Participants included Ella Wendling (skip) and Adriana Fisher from Wausau, Emily Rubenzer from Stevens Point and Savannah Koch from Poynette.

On the boys’ side, the Caden Hebert rink from Eau Claire finished in first place, defeating Team Guentzel from St. Paul. The Matthew Lannoye team from Portage finished fourth.

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1/12/2024

Wendling Rink off to Good Start in Colorado

The Wisconsin girls’ team got off to a good start at the U18 National Championships at Rock Creek Curling in Lafayette, Colorado, near Denver.

Featuring Wausau’s Ella Wendling and Adriana Fisher, the team won its first two matches. They defeated team Johnson from Minnesota, 7-6 this morning. Yesterday, they defeated their first-round opponent, 9-1.

The other members of the team are Emily Rubenzer from Stevens Point and Savannah Koch from Poynette.

According to Wausau West High School curling coach Jim Wendling, the two Wisconsin boys teams also won their opening matches.

Round-robin play among 12 girls’ and 12 boys’ teams continues through Saturday.

Semi-finals and finals are on Sunday.

January 10, 2024

Wausau’s Matt Thums and his partner Oyuna Oranchimeg (Twin Cities) won the USA Curling wheelchair mixed doubles championship last weekend in Fort Wayne, IN.

Their next step will be to represent the U.S. at the world wheelchair mixed doubles curling event in March in South Korea.

In Fort wayne, Thums and Oranchimeg came from behind to win three straight matches in the round-robin competition. Thums said they were able to get their distance right and make some good shots when they needed to.

“In the semifinal, we found ourselves in a hole to start but we kept telling each other just get on the board and we will battle back,” he said “It started with scoring that first point and we then found our groove.”  He said the final was a close game against Shawn Sadowski and Laura Dwyer, both from Wisconsin.

Thums, Oranchimeg, Sadowski, Dwyer and Steve Emt from Connecticut will make up the U.S. team at the four- person world competition, also in South Korea in March.