Curling team keeps its chill

Jeff Thompson Photography

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Just after most of us got our quadrennial fill of curling from the Winter Olympics, a group of Yale students made their own mark in the sport. The Yale curling team, which is run by students with no official support from the university, won its first medal in national competition—taking the bronze at the College National Curling Championship in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in March. The team, which travels to Bridgeport to practice, was founded in 2013; none of the current team had ever curled before coming to Yale. Founding member Michael Parker ’18PhD says it’s a welcome escape from the rigors of doctoral work in immunobiology: “I go out on the ice, and I’m not thinking of anything else.”