OGDEN ? With the top-seeded and tournament-leading Craig Brown team having a Wednesday night bye at the U.S. Olympic Curling Team Trials, Scott Baird's team snared a tie for first by beating the Andy Borland rink 11-8.
The Brown and Baird teams are tied at 4-1 with one game remaining in the first round of the double round-robin competition at the Ice Sheet at Ogden.
In contrast to the team's previous two victories, which Baird's side won on last-shot misses by their opponents, Matt Stevens made an open hit with the final rock of the game to score four and rally from behind.
The team headed by 1998 U.S. Olympic skip Tim Somerville continued its rise from the bottom toward the top by handing Paul Pustovar's team its third loss of the week 8-1.
Kari Erickson's team kept its grip on the women's lead by defeating the Nicole Joraanstad squad, 8-5, to improve to 4-0. The game was tied 5-5 after seven ends, but Erickson scored two for the lead and stole another point in the ninth end to seal the win.
Patti Lank's team moved into second alone by defeating the Amy Wright team 12-7 in nine ends, setting up a Erickson-Lank showdown Wednesday afternoon for control of the women's division.
In other evening games Wednesday, the Doug Pottinger team won its second win after two previous heartbreaking losses by defeating the Jason Larway team 6-5, while the Lori Mountford team picked up its first win of the week by downing the Cassie Johnson team 9-3.
In Wednesday afternoon men's draws, Brown's team defeated Borland's 7-5, the Scott Baird rink downed Pottinger 6-5 and Somerville's beat Larway's 9-4.
Competition continues daily through Saturday with draws at 1 and 7 p.m., with tiebreakers Sunday if needed.