Julianna MacKenzie has added a gold medal to her collection for her part in Team Bakos' win at the Banff U15/U18 Curling Bonspiel, Oct. 26-28.

The U18 women's team went 5-0 on their march to the gold medal in a field of 12 teams.

They faced Team Bakker in the final and won 5-1. The Bakos rink took a 4-0 lead into the sixth end, where the Bakker rink scored their only point.

The 16-year-old Cochrane lead says the team performed well in their last bonspiel before their Canada Winter Games trial.

"It was a good outcome," she says. "We played well."

"We feel pretty comfortable. We know we’re running for the trials and we’re now preparing of them."

Team Bakos is based out of the Crestwood Curling Club in Edmonton and is formed of players who came to know each other from different camps and bonspiels. It was specifically formed to compete in the trials, although they will continue their season together no matter the outcome.

The team is skipped by Julia Bakos and MacKenzie's other teammates for the trials are third Quinn Prodaniuk and second Alyssa Medohin. They're coached by Glenna Rubin. Kim Bonneau curled in place of Medohin at the Banff bonspiel.

MacKenzie wasn't the only Cochrane curler competing in the U18 women's event at the Banff U15/U18 bonspiel. Hannah Airey was part of Team Bakker that won silver. The Cochrane-based Cinnamon Rink of Zoe Cinnamon, Justine Hagey, Elspeth Cooper and Raelyn Helston also participated.

All six of these curlers are part of the Alberta Junior Curling Tour this season and they are also on teams qualifying for the winter games trials. That means three of the four women's teams in the trials have Cochrane content.

The trials are being held at the Pidherney Curling Centre in Red Deer, Nov. 9-11. Red Deer is hosting the Canada Winter Games, Feb. 23 to Mar. 2, 2019.