Mackenzie Zacharias and her Altona team (Karlee Burgess, Emily Zacharias, Lauren Lenentine) were the winners Sunday of the Manitoba Curling Tour final at Thistle – their first MCT Championship.

The eight team championship was played in two pools of four and Team Zacharias were 2W-1L to advance to the semifinals where they posted a 7-6 extra end victory over Kristy Watling. The final was a short-game victory over Kristy McDonald, who had reached the final with a win over Kim Link and her team, prepping for their upcoming trip to the Canadian Seniors.

Zacharias’ first prize purse is $1,600. Kristy McDonald and her team earn $1,000 toward their season expenses while Kristy Watling and Kim Link’s teams each pick up $700.

In the Men’s MCT final, Ryan Wiebe (Ty Dilello, Sean & Adam Flatt) was a 5-4 winer over Riley Smith. It was a well-played game with a lot of rocks in play and the young men favouring the big weight hits so much on display at the elite level these days.

Wiebe was in his third game of the day, having beaten Braden Calvert (7-1) in the quarter-final and Corey Chambers (5-2) in the semi-final.

Smith, who had a first round bye to the semi-final, beat Jacques Gauthier (4-2) in the semi-final. Gauthier had beaten Tanner Lott (skipping the Pat Simmons team) in an extra-end (6-5) semi-final.

The final four earned the same prize money as the women’s final four. The quarter-finalist teams both earned $500.

For Wiebe and the Flatt brothers, it was a repeat victory as they had won the previous (2019) MCT title as well.