The next Aksarben Curling member feature is none other than Erin Palmer!
Erin was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida where she grew up playing many sports like basketball, softball, and cross country. She got her undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida (GO GATORS!) and currently works from home as a civil engineer for a firm out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Erin moved to Charlotte, where she married her now-husband, shortly after graduating from their separate universities. They moved to Lincoln, Nebraska two years ago so her husband could begin his law school education (and finally be an in-person Husker fan!). They currently reside in Lincoln with their Siberian husky, Ghost, and orange cat, Boba Fett.
This spring, we're offering practice ice and drop-in curling for Aksarben Curling members who have a 2024-2025 season membership. One sheet will be open alongside the Monday 7pm league for 2 hours. Members may practice, run drills, scrimmage, or play pick-up games with other members (full games, doubles, etc.). Remaining dates include:
Please plan to help with cleaning your sheet and putting away equipment once you are finished.
Note: We cannot guarantee that you will have enough people on hand to play with full teams.
Also members: Don't forget to sign up for our Substitute Curler list this summer (must be logged in to access). All members whose membership is current for the 2024-2025 season (good through August) can sub for free in our three Summer Leagues: Monday 5:45 PM doubles, Tuesday 7 PM, and Friday 7 PM.
Kali is originally from Loveland, CO, but has been in Nebraska for a while now. She is the oldest of four kids (shoutout to Kadia, Cleveland, and Abbey!) and considers her undergrad roommate’s family her own too (another shoutout to Zaidya, Caylan, Kitra, and Janea!). Kali earned her doctorate in gerontology from the University of Nebraska - Omaha in May 2024. Currently, she works for a nonprofit called The Collective of Hope which provides free grief support to the community. She is also an adjunct instructor for the Department of Gerontology at UNO.
While Kali does miss the mountains and her family back in Colorado, she chose to stay in Omaha because of the amazing curling community! Kali began curling in January 2022. Later that year, she helped start the UNO
Pictured: John Cherek (skip), Elise Cherek (lead), Katie Ward (second), Jeff Cherek (vice)
On April 11-13, 2025, Aksarben Curling hosted its Season Championship bonspiel at Baxter Arena. The event featured sixteen teams including the champions of our 12 fall and winter leagues, our top college league team, the 2023-2024 defending champs, and two wild card lottery teams.
Teams played in 4-team groups that broke into semi-finals and finals. Participating teams included:
Group A Freeze Agents (Fall Sunday 12pm champ) Stone Cold FA (Winter Tuesday 8pm champ) The Long Shots (Fall Sunday 2:15pm champ) Dinosaur Means Stop (Wild Card)
Group B Spice Curls (Winter Sunday 4:30pm champ) One WorldRocks (Wild Card) Stone Cold (Winter Sunday 2:15pm champ) The Rajects (Winter Sunday 12pm champ)
Group C Little Raise of Sunshine (Fall Tuesday 8pm champ) Sweeping Death (Winter Sunday 6:45pm champ) Buff N Stuff (Team Aksarben - Defending Champ) The Ice Is Right (Winter Friday 7pm champ)
Group D Sheets & Giggles (Fall Sunday 6:45pm champ) Leave No Stone Unturned (Fall Sunday 4:30pm champ) Love Hack—Sheet 52s (Fall Friday 7pm champ) UNO Curling Club (College League champ)
Team Freeze Agents advanced out of Group A to play Spice Curls from Group B in the semi-finals, with Spice Curls defeating Freeze Agents to advance to the finals. Little Raise of Sunshine advanced from Group C to face Sheets & Giggles from Group D, with Little Raise of Sunshine besting Sheets & Giggles to reach the finals. In the Bronze match, Sheets & Giggles defeated Freeze Agents. In the Championship match, Spice Curls defeated Little Raise of Sunshine to secure the championship and Katie Beck Cup!
Congratulations to our season champions!
2024-2025 Season Champion Spice Curls John Cherek (skip), Elise Cherek (lead), Katie Ward (second), Jeff Cherek (vice)
2024-2025 Season Championship Runner-Up Little Raise of Sunshine Nic Swiercek (lead), Kaeli Samson (vice), Lisa Truesdell (skip), Matthew Truesdell (second)
2024-2025 Season Championship Third Place Sheets & Giggles Bill Cleary (vice), Brian Cotner (skip), Glenn Prince (third), Jay Johnson (lead)
2023-2024 Season Championship Fourth Place Freeze Agents Eric Newhouse (vice), Stacy Bliss (second), Tiffany Buge (lead), Erin Palmer (skip)
Pictured: Nic Swiercek, Doug Michel, Sean Morrison, David Hill, Nic Ridder
In October 2024, Aksarben Curling's Team Ridder competed at the 2024 USA Curling Arena National Championship at the Wausau Curling Center in Wasau, WI.
After going 2-3 in pool play, Team Ridder earned a spot in the quarterfinals qualification game based on head-to-head tiebreakers. In the qualification game, they defeated Wine Country Curling's Team Betts to earn a spot in the semi-finals. There, Team Ridder won a pool play rematch against Cedar Rapids Curling's Team Tesch to advance to the finals. Team Ridder then played Wine Country Curling's Team Spangler in the gold/silver game. Team Spangler ultimately prevailed and Team Ridder won the silver medal!
Congratulations to Team Ridder's Nic Ridder, David Hill, Doug Michel, Sean Morrison, and Nic Swiercek!
Special thank you to all of the Aksarben Curling members who cheered on Team Ridder remotely from Omaha at home and at our livestream watch parties! We truuly had the gold medalists of cheering back home!
Men's division Gold: Team Spangler (Wine Country Curling, Mountain Pacific Curling Association) Silver: Team Ridder (Aksarben Curling, Mid-America Curling Association) Bronze: Team Curtis (Rocket City Curling, Grand National Curling Club)
Women's Division Gold: Team Asis (Silicon Valley Curling, Mountain Pacific Curling Association) Silver: Team Segovia (Houston Curling, Mid-America Curling Association) Bronze: Team Feldman (Wine Country Curling, Mountain Pacific Curling Association)
Thank you to all of the amazing hosts at the Wausau Curling Club, all of the ice technicians who made the ice amazing all week, and all of the staff and officials at USA Curling for running such a great event!
New to curling? We got you covered with what you need to know!
Check out this handy Curling Basics 101from our friends at Cedar Rapids Curling. It provides everything you need to know about the history of curling, game play, scoring, sportsmanship, and key terms.
Teams competed for the Katie Beck Championship Cup, our annual trophy honoring the legacy of Katie Beck, one of Aksarben Curling's most accomplished curlers. 
2024-2025 Season Championship Runner-Up
2024-2025 Season Championship Third Place
2023-2024 Season Championship Fourth Place
