Aileen Geving Explained

Aileen Geving
Birth Name:Aileen Sormunen
Birth Date:13 February 1987
Birth Place:Duluth, Minnesota
Curling Club:Duluth CC,
Duluth, MN
Mixed Doubles Partner:John Shuster
World Championship Appearances:3
Olympic Appearances:2 (2018, 2022)

Aileen Miranda Geving (Sormunen; born February 13, 1987) is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. She represented the United States on the women's curling team at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics and earned her first national championship in 2020.

Career

Geving began curling in 1996. She was a national junior champion in 2004 and 2007.

Geving skipped a team at the 2005 United States Olympic Curling Trials and qualified for the playoffs in fourth place but lost her page playoffs game against Patti Lank. She also competed at the 2010 United States Olympic Curling Trials but finished outside of the playoffs in fifth place. She then played as third for Patti Lank at the 2010 United States Women's Curling Championship and finished as the runner-up to Erika Brown.

Geving skipped her own team at the 2011 and 2012 United States Women's Curling Championships, finishing sixth and fourth, respectively. She and her then-third Courtney George switched positions the next year and finished second at the 2013 United States Women's Curling Championship. Consequently, she and her team were selected to participate at the 2014 United States Olympic Curling Trials by the United States Curling Association's High Performance Program committee.[1]

At the 2020 United States Women's Championship, Geving earned her first national title as lead for Tabitha Peterson. In the round-robin, Team Peterson's only loss came against Jamie Sinclair but they then beat Team Sinclair in the one vs. 2 page playoff game and again in the final.[2] As United States Champions Team Peterson would have represented the United States at the 2020 World Women's Curling Championship, but they lost that opportunity when the Championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] They also earned a spot at the final Grand Slam of the season, the Champions Cup,[4] which was also cancelled due to the pandemic. Their qualification will instead carry over to the 2021 Champions Cup.[5]

During the 2020 off-season, the team announced that Tabitha Peterson would remain as skip when Roth returned from maternity leave. Roth re-joined the team as vice-skip at third, with Hamilton moving to second, Tara Peterson to lead, and Geving to alternate.[6] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Peterson team did not compete in events for most of the 2020–21 season until entering a bio-secure bubble held in Calgary, Alberta in the spring of 2021 for three events in a row. The first two events were the Champions Cup and Players' Championship grand slams, with the team missing the playoffs at both. The third event in the Calgary bubble for Team Peterson was the 2021 World Women's Championship, in which they earned a spot as 2020 National Champions after the 2021 National Championship was moved to later in the spring due to the pandemic. They finished the 13-game round-robin in fifth place with a 7–6 record, earning them a spot in the playoffs and securing a 2022 Olympic berth for the United States. In the playoffs, Team Peterson defeated Denmark's Madeline Dupont but lost to Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni to end up in the bronze medal game. There, Peterson faced off against Sweden's Anna Hasselborg and won with a score of 9–5, including scoring five points in the seventh end.[7] Team Peterson's bronze medal finish was the first World Women's medal for the United States in 15 years, and the first-ever bronze medal.

The Peterson rink won their first two events of the 2021–22 season, the US Open of Curling and the 2021 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic.[8] The following week, they played in the 2021 Masters where they made it as far as the quarterfinals. The team then played in the 2021 United States Olympic Curling Trials, where they attempted to return to the Olympics. Through the round robin, the team posted a 9–1 record, putting them into the best-of-three final against Cory Christensen. The Peterson rink beat Christensen in two-straight games, booking their tickets to the 2022 Winter Olympics.[9] After the Trials, the team played in one event before the Olympics, the Curl Mesabi Classic, which they won, beating Christensen again in the final.[10] At the Olympics, the team finished the round robin with a 4–5 record, missing the playoffs.[11] The team finished off the season by playing in two Slams, the 2022 Players' Championship and the 2022 Champions Cup, missing the playoffs in both events.

Personal life

Geving has a degree in organizational management from the University of Minnesota Duluth. She is currently an insurance commercial client executive.[12] She is married to Garrett Geving,[13] and has one daughter.[14]

Teams

SeasonSkipThirdSecondLeadAlternateCoachEvents
2000–01Aileen Sormunen Amanda Jensen Amanda McLean Seppo Sormunen
Kirsten Finch Katlyn Schmitt Rebecca Dobie Aileen Sormunen Neil Doese (7th)
2001–02Aileen Sormunen Courtney George Amanda Jensen Amanda McLean Cyndee Johnson 2002 USJCC
2002–03Aileen Sormunen Courtney George Amanda Jensen Amanda McLean Cyndee Johnson 2003 USJCC
2003–04Aileen Sormunen Courtney George Amanda Jensen Amanda McLean Jessica Schultz (WJCC) Cyndee Johnson 2004 USJCC
(4th)
2004–05Aileen Sormunen Courtney George Amanda Jensen Amanda McLean Cyndee Johnson 2005 USJCC (5th)
2005–06Aileen Sormunen Courtney George Amanda Jensen Amanda McLean 2006 USJCC (SF)
2005 USOCT (4th)
2006–07Aileen Sormunen Courtney George Molly Bonner Jordan Moulton Monica Walker (WJCC) Robert Fenson 2007 USJCC
(4th)
2007–08Aileen SormunenCourtney George Molly Bonner Jordan Moulton
2008–09Aileen SormunenMolly Bonner Jessica Schultz 2009 USOCT (5th)
2009–10Aileen SormunenJessica Schultz
2010–11Aileen SormunenCourtney George Amanda McLean (5th)
2011–12Aileen SormunenCourtney George Amanda McLean Miranda Solem
2012–13Courtney George Aileen SormunenAmanda McLean Julie Lilla
2013–14Courtney George Aileen SormunenAmanda McLean Monica Walker (4th)
2014–15Aileen SormunenMonica Walker Becca Hamilton (WWCC)
(10th)
2015–16Aileen SormunenMonica Walker Vicky Persinger
2016–17Nina Roth Aileen Geving Becca Hamilton Cory Christensen(WWCC)
(5th)
2017–18Nina Roth Tabitha Peterson Aileen Geving Becca Hamilton Cory Christensen(OG) 2017 USOCT
2018 WOG (8th)
2018 Cont. Cup
2018–19Nina Roth Tabitha Peterson Aileen Geving Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Howard Restall
2019–20Tabitha Peterson Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Aileen Geving Nina Roth Natalie Nicholson
2020–21Tabitha Peterson Nina Roth Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Aileen Geving Laine Peters [15]
2021–22Tabitha Peterson Nina Roth Becca Hamilton Tara Peterson Aileen Geving 2021 USOCT
2022 WOG (6th)

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Field set for 2014 US Olympic Team Trials. https://web.archive.org/web/20131112105556/http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Curling/Features/2013/May/09/Field-set-for-2014-US-Olympic-Team-Trials. dead. November 12, 2013. 9 May 2013. USA Curling. 15 August 2013.
  2. News: Schneider. Angela. Tabitha Peterson takes aggressive approach to dethrone Jamie Sinclair in women’s title match of USA Curling Championships. 2020-02-15. The Spokesman-Review. 2020-02-19.
  3. Web site: World women's curling championship cancelled. Mar 12, 2020. TSN. en. Apr 27, 2020.
  4. Web site: Peterson Locks Down Playoff Spot. https://web.archive.org/web/20200213214904/https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Curling/Features/2020/February/12/Peterson-Locks-Down-Playoff-Spot. dead. February 13, 2020. 2020-02-12. USA Curling. 2020-02-13.
  5. Web site: 2020 Humpty’s Champions Cup teams to keep spots for next season. Mar 18, 2020. Grand Slam of Curling. Apr 27, 2020. March 20, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200320072124/https://thegrandslamofcurling.com/2020-humptys-champions-cup-teams-to-keep-spots-for-next-season/. dead.
  6. Web site: Team Peterson Announced. Apr 27, 2020. USA Curling. Apr 28, 2020.
  7. News: May 9, 2021. United States beat Sweden to win women's world curling bronze. Sportsnet. May 10, 2021.
  8. News: American Peterson hopes Autumn Gold Curling Classic win sign of things to come. Toronto Sun. Todd Saelhof. October 11, 2021. June 19, 2022.
  9. News: Tabitha Peterson wins U.S. Olympic women’s curling trials, eyes ending another drought. NBC Sports. November 21, 2021. June 19, 2022.
  10. Web site: 2021 Curl Mesabi Classic. CurlingZone. June 19, 2022.
  11. News: U.S. Women conclude Olympics at 4–5. USA Curling. February 16, 2022. June 19, 2022.
  12. Web site: 2021 World Women's Curling Championship Media Guide. Curling Canada. April 30, 2021.
  13. 2018 Continental Cup Media Guide
  14. Web site: 2020 World Women's Curling Championship Media Guide . . . Curling Canada . 2020-03-09 .
  15. News: Blount. Rachel. May 9, 2021. Minnesotans help U.S. women's curling team earn Olympics berth. Star Tribune. May 10, 2021.