EDMONTON  - Coming off a thrilling 9-8 victory against the Toronto Varsity Blues to win their second consecutive OUA gold medal, the Western Mustangs men's curling team is looking to keep their strong play going at the CIS/CCA Curling Nationals starting Wednesday March 10 in Edmonton. The Mustangs women's curling team is also representing Western at Nationals after finishing third in OUA play this season.

The Mustangs are skipped by Evan Lilly (Sudbury, Ont.), who was selected to the OUA second-team all-star this season and at the 2009 CIS Nationals he was named All-Canadian as a second for his outstanding play in the tournament. Lilly stepped into the leadership role as skip this year and has flourished throwing 83% in the OUA playoffs enroute to the Mustangs second straight OUA Gold. Also playing an integral role for the Mustangs are vice Michael Lizmore (London, Ont.), Christopher Liscumb (Ilderton, Ont.), and Joey-Dean Lanthier (Lively, Ont.).

The first draw for the Mustangs men is the McGill Redmen with the game scheduled for March 10 at 9 p.m. Western is back on the ice for 10 a.m. March 11 against Saint Mary's and then again at 3 p.m. to battle UPEI. They then face Queen's at 2 p.m. and Alberta at 7 p.m. on Friday March 12, and Victoria at 8 a.m. on Saturday March 13 in their final round-robin game.

The top two teams from each pool advance to the semifinals.

The women's team is led by skip Hollie Nicol (Markham, Ont.), lead Fiona Muirhead (London, Ont.), second Jackie Masongsong (Markham, Ont.), third Megan Balsdon (Toronto) and alternate Sarah Mason (Dundalk, Ont.). 

The women also begin play March 10 at 9 p.m. against Saint Mary's. They play again versus Regina at 3 p.m. and Brock at 8 p.m. on March 11. The Mustangs then face Calgary Friday March 11 at 2 p.m. and wrap up their round robin play Sat. March 13 at 8 a.m. against Manitoba.

Both the men and women's teams hope that their previous experience on the national level will help propel them to success in this year's tournament. Lilly and Lizmore were on the OUA Gold winning team last year and fared well at the 2009 Nationals losing a tiebreaker that would have put them in the semi-finals. The Mustang women also made a trip to Nationals last year and their new skip this year Hollie Nicol was the skip of the Wilfrid Laurier team that won the 2009 CIS/CCA Nationals. She came to Western to pursue a law degree after finishing her undergraduate degree at Laurier.

Western would like to extend a special thanks to AMJ Campbell Van Lines, who have been a strong supporter of the Mustangs. They contributed funds to help pay for the travel of the men's and women's teams to Edmonton and they also outfitted each team in new jackets for the tournament. This extra incentive might just be what each squad needs to advance out of the round-robin play.

More information on the tournament can be found at the CCA website (http://www.curling.ca/content/Championships/2010university.asp) . 

Check back with www.westernmustangs.ca as results will be posted to the website each day.

COMPETITION
Each gender will have two pools of teams (the number of teams in each pool to be determined) and each pool will play a round robin within their own pool. At the conclusion of the individual round robins, the top team in Women’s Pool ‘A’ will face the 2nd place team from Women’s Pool ‘B’ and the top team from Women’s Pool ‘B’ will meet the 2nd place team in Women’s Pool ‘A’. The winners of these semi final games will advance to the championship final and the losers will be awarded the bronze medals. The same format will apply to the Men’s Pool ‘C’ and ‘D’.

POOLS

MEN 'A' (7 teams)	MEN 'B' (7 teams)	WOMEN 'C' (6 teams)	WOMEN 'D' (6 teams)
VICTORIA (BC)	CALGARY (AB)	WATERLOO (ON)	CALGARY (AB)
WESTERN (ON)	REGINA (SK)	CONCORDIA (QC)	REGINA (SK)
McGILL (QC)	MANITOBA (MB)	UPEI (PE)	MANITOBA (MB)
UPEI (PE)	TORONTO (ON)	DALHOUSIE (NS)	WESTERN (ON)
ALBERTA (AB)	MEMORIAL (NL)	ALBERTA (AB)	SAINT MARY'S (NS)
QUEEN'S (ON)	WILFRID LAURIER (ON)	WILFRID LAURIER (ON)	BROCK (ON)
SAINT MARY'S (NS)	DALHOUSIE (NS)