In October 2025, Aksarben Curling had two teams compete in the 2025 USA Curling Arena National Championship at CurlVegas in Las Vegas, NV: Team Ridder on the men's side and Team Linke on the women's side. We're proud to have had Aksarben represented in both divisions at this year's championship!
Team Ridder
Doug Michel (lead), David Hill (skip, second), Nic Swiercek (third), Nic Ridder (vice, fourth), and Isaiah Jacobsen (alternate)
Team Linke
Ralph Roza (coach), Buffy Linke (skip), Kali Odd (alternate), Meredith Daniels (vice), Lois Imig (lead), and Julia Castle (second)
In August 2025, Team Ridder finished in the semi-finals at MACA Regional Playdowns and later qualified for nationals through the Last Chance Bonspiel at LaCrosse Curling in September 2025. In 2024, Team Ridder won the silver medal at the Arena National Championship in Wausau, WI and was looking to capture another medal in 2025. Team Ridder won all five of their pool matches (two in extra ends!) to finish pool play undefeated and secure a bye into the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, they defeated Grand Rapids Curling's Team Shlimovitz to face DFW Curling's Team Myers in the gold/silver game. After a close game tied after 6 ends, Team Myers pulled ahead with a 2-point lead after 7 ends to ultimately prevail with handshakes in the 8th end, securing the gold for DFW (their 6th!) and a back-to-back silver medal for Team Ridder and Aksarben Curling!
Congratulations to Team Ridder's Nic Ridder, David Hill, Doug Michel, Nic Swiercek, and Isaiah Jacobsen!
Aksarben's Team Linke finished third overall in the MACA Regional Playdowns and later qualified for nationals at the Last Chance Bonspiel at LaCrosse Curling in September 2025, going undefeated in their double round robin. While Team Linke did not advance from pool play at natioanls, Team Linke finished with the top DSC scores across all 24 teams in the women's and men's fields!
We're really proud of Aksarben Curling's curlers and all of the work they did to make it to the national stage and represent our club and community! Read more about this year's event at Stones and Stripes.
Special thank you to all of the Aksarben Curling members back home who cheered on Team Ridder and Team Linke remotely from Omaha at home and at our livestream watch parties! We continue to have the gold medalists of cheering back home!
Congratulation to all of the 2025 USA Curling Arena National Champions:
Men's division
Gold: Team Myers (DFW Curling, Mid-America Curling Association)
Silver: Team Ridder (Aksarben Curling, Mid-America Curling Association)
Bronze: Team Spangler (Mountain Pacific Curling Association)
Women's Division
Gold: Team Weber (Sioux Falls Curling, Dakota Curling Association)
Silver: Team Robertsons (DFW Curling, Mid-America Curling Association)
Bronze: Team Asis (Silicon Valley Curling, Mountain Pacific Curling Association)
Thank you to all of the amazing hosts at CurlVegas, all of the ice technicians who made the ice amazing all week, and all of the staff and officials at USA Curling for running such a great event!
