With three tour stops in the book, team Sato have all but walked away with the B.C. Junior Curling Tour men’s title with a commanding 181.875-point lead over the second place team.
The Royal City Curling Club team of skip Hayato Sato, third Matthew McCrady, second Joshua Miki and lead Jacob Umbach have a convincing hold on first place in the five-event tour.
Their most recent result, at the Rick Cotter Memorial Junior Curling Classic in Vernon, saw the foursome surge at the right moment to blank former teammate Dawson Ballard and his Langley rink 7-0 in the final.
It came after an 8-4 doubling over Albertan Jared Palanuik’s rink, and was part of a 4-1 record overall. Sato’s lone loss came in its second game, 3-2, to Richmond’s Brayden Carpenter, formerly of the Royal City.
The Carpenter rink went undefeated in the round robin draw, before falling 7-6 to Ballard in the semifinal. In the consolation final, Carpenter edged Palanuik 1-0.
The Sato rink has 360 points after winning all three of the B.C. junior events they have entered. Two of the teammates, Sato and Miki, were gold medallists at the Canada Winter Games in March.
Ballard, who was also part of the Sato team at the Canada Winter Games, sits in second place with 178.125 points.
The tour continues this weekend at the Kamloops Junior Cashspiel.
