Luc Violette (born March 8, 1999) is an American curler from Edmonds, Washington.[2] He is a five-time United States Junior Champion and was a silver medalist at both the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics and the 2017 World Junior Championships.
| Luc Violette | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 8, 1999 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Team | |
| Curling club | Seattle CC, Seattle, WA[1] |
| Skip | Daniel Casper |
| Third | Luc Violette |
| Second | Ben Richardson |
| Lead | Aidan Oldenburg |
| Mixed doubles partner | Lexi Daly |
Curling career  | |
| Member Association |  United States |
Medal record | |
Curling career
editViolette started curling competitively at eleven years old.[3] At his first three appearances at the United States Junior Curling Championships Violette played second for Jake Vukich's team, culminating winning the championship in 2014. As Team USA at the 2014 World Championships, they finished in ninth place.[4]
As part of the United States Curling Association's (USCA) Junior High Performance Program, Violette was the alternate for Korey Dropkin's team for the 2014–15 season. Violette earned his second Junior Nationals silver medal at the 2015 Championship, and then competed at his first United States Men's Championship, where they finished seventh. The next season, Violette and Andrew Stopera, who played lead for Team Dropkin the year before, formed a new team with Stopera as skip, Violette at third, Steven Szemple at second, and William Pryor at lead. The new lineup earned bronze at the 2016 Junior Nationals.
For the 2016–17 season, Team Stopera got a new front end, with Ben Richardson joining at second and Graem Fenson at lead. This line-up won the next three United States Junior Championships, 2017–2019.[5][6] Winning Junior Nationals earned them the chance to represent the United States at the World Junior Championships.[3] At the 2017 Worlds, they earned the silver medal when they lost to Lee Ki-jeong's South Korean team in the final. At the 2018 Worlds they made it to the bronze medal match but lost to Team Switzerland.[7] At the Worlds in 2019, their final as Team Stopera, they finished fifth.[8] Also in 2019 they played at the Winter University Games in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, where they finished in eighth place.[9]
Stopera aged out of juniors after the 2018–19 season and Violette took over as skip for the next season, with former alternate Riley Fenson becoming lead. Their success at the US Junior Championships continued, winning gold for the fourth year in a row. At the 2020 World Championships they finished in seventh place.[10] Violette, Richardson, and Harstad aged out of juniors after the 2019–20 season and for the following season got selected together, along with Chase Sinnett at third, as the USCA's new men's U-25 national team. The U-25 team program, which stands for under 25 years old, was added in 2020 as a new part of the High Performance Program with the intention of bridging the development gap between juniors and men's curling.[11]
Personal life
editViolette's father Tom Violette is also a curler, he is a two-time national champion and a bronze medalist at the 1992 World Men's Championship.
Violette attended Edmonds College.[12]
Teams
editMen's
edit| Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Alternate | Coach | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | Jake Vukich | Evan McAuley | Luc Violette | Kyle Lorvick | 2012 USJCC (6th) | ||
| 2012–13 | Jake Vukich | Evan McAuley | Luc Violette | Nicholas Connolly | Alex Fenson | Tom Violette | 2013 USJCC 
|
| 2013–14 | Jake Vukich | Evan McAuley | Luc Violette | Kyle Lorvick | Alex Fenson | Tom Violette (USJCC) Travis Way (WJCC) |
2014 USJCC  2014 WJCC (9th) |
| 2014–15 | Korey Dropkin | Tom Howell | Mark Fenner | Andrew Stopera | Luc Violette | 2015 USJCC 2015 USMCC (7th) | |
| 2015–16 | Andrew Stopera | Luc Violette | Steven Szemple | William Pryor | 2016 USJCC 
| ||
| 2016–17 | Andrew Stopera | Luc Violette | Ben Richardson | Graem Fenson | Nicholas Connolly (WJCC) | Mark Lazar | 2017 USJCC 2017 WJCC
|
| 2017–18 | Andrew Stopera | Luc Violette | Ben Richardson | Graem Fenson | Caleb Clawson | Mark Lazar | 2018 USJCC 2018 WJCC (4th) |
| 2018–19 | Andrew Stopera | Luc Violette | Ben Richardson | Graem Fenson | Riley Fenson | Mark Lazar | 2019 USJCC 2019 WJCC (5th) |
| Andrew Stopera | Luc Violette | Alex Fenson | Luc Violette | Mark Lazar | 2019 WUG (8th) | ||
| 2019–20 | Luc Violette | Riley Fenson | Ben Richardson | Graem Fenson | Jon Harstad | 2020 USJCC
| |
| Luc Violette | Ben Richardson | Jon Harstad | Graem Fenson | Kevin Tuma | Tyler George | 2020 WJCC (7th) | |
| 2020–21 | Luc Violette | Chase Sinnett | Ben Richardson | Jon Harstad | Tyler George Jordan Moulton |
USMCC 2021
| |
| 2021–22 | Luc Violette | Chase Sinnett | Ben Richardson | Jon Harstad | |||
| 2022–23 | Daniel Casper | Luc Violette | Ben Richardson | Chase Sinnett | USMCC 2023
| ||
| 2023–24 | Daniel Casper | Luc Violette | Ben Richardson | Chase Sinnett | USMCC 2024
| ||
| 2024–25 | Daniel Casper | Luc Violette | Ben Richardson | Aidan Oldenburg |
Mixed
edit| Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Alternate | Coach | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | Luc Violette | Cora Farrell | Ben Richardson | Cait Flannery | Tom Violette | 2016 WYOG
|
References
edit- ^ "USA Curling National Team Athletes". USA Curling. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
- ^ "Luc Violette". USA Curling. Archived from the original on January 11, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ a b Patterson, Nick (February 12, 2017). "Local youth ushers in start of USA curling nationals in Everett". HeraldNet.com. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ "World Junior Curling Championships 2014". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Jung, Tristan (March 15, 2019). "High-level curlers face thin margins, tough travel schedule". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Haggerty, Nancy (February 1, 2019). "Curling: Briarcliff's Stopera leads his team to third straight U.S. Junior National title". lohud.com. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Monteith, Austin (March 10, 2018). "CURLING: Sinclair, Persinger teams win Nationals". The Jamestown Sun. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ "World Junior Curling Championships 2019". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ "U.S. men finish eighth at World University Games". USA Curling. March 8, 2019. Archived from the original on February 4, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ "World Junior Curling Championships 2020". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ "U-25 NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM". Team USA. June 24, 2020. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
- ^ "Luc VIOLETTE". Lake Placid 2023 Winter World University Games. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
