Photo: Curt Jensen

Team VernKam: Bethany Evans, left, Ivy Jensen, Alicia Evans and Ava Arndt.

There will be a strong local presence at the Canadian U18 Curling Championships in Saskatoon.

Along with two teams from Kelowna, a mix of Vernon and Kamloops players will be competing at the prestigious event.

Vernon's Ava Arndt will skip the Thompson Okanagan team, called VernKam, with Ivy Jensen as second.

Bethany and Alicia Evans, from Kamloops, will act as third and lead respectively.

David Arndt is coaching the VernKam team, who won the B.C. U-18 title to make it to the nationals.

The Kelowna girls’ contingent includes Skip Megan Rempel, Third Parker Rempel, Second Gwyneth Jones and Lead Ella Walker.

On the boys’ side, Team Jaeger will be competing on the U18 stage for the first time. Skip Owen Jaeger, Third Spencer Rempel, Second Noah Wielgosz and Lead Brenden Hruschak are likely to be among some of the youngest players in the field.

Last year’s Canadian Under-18 Curling Championships, held in Ottawa, saw Newfoundland & Labrador (skipped by Simon Perry) and Manitoba (skipped by Shaela Hayward) take home the two titles. Neither skip is in the competition this year, so a new winner is guaranteed.

At this championship, 21 teams from each gender will be divided into pools of seven. They’ll play a six-game round robin, with the top four from each pool advancing to a championship bracket.

For the pool teams that don’t advance to the championship round, there will be two more “ranking” games, which will help determine the seeding at next year’s event.

“The Under-18 Nationals are an amazing opportunity for our top young curlers to compete against their peers from all across Canada,” said Helen Radford, Curling Canada’s manager of NextGen Programs.

“For young curlers, once they have experienced a week of great competition and fun, it motivates them to work hard to get back to the national stage.”

The finals are slated for Feb. 22.

For scores and schedules, click here.