Maureen Brunt
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Maureen Brunt was born in Portage, Wisconsin on December 20th, 1982. She began curling at he age of 5 at the Portage Curling Club, a few short blocks from her home. Brunt began curling competitively at the age of fourteen. She was the skip of her high school curling team, all four years. She also led her team to a State Championship victory in 2000 and 2001. Maureen's first Junior National appearance was in 1999 were she placed 6th. In the fall of 2001 Maureen was the newest addition to the Cassie Johnson Rink were she played lead. The Johnson Rink were the Junior National Champions in 2002 and 2003. Brunt along with teammates Cassie Johnson, Jamie Johnson, and Katie Beck, were the first Junior women from the US to win a gold medal at the Junior World Championships in 2002. In 2003 Cassie, Katie, and Maureen, returned to the Junior Worlds where they claimed the silver medal, losing to Canada in the final. In 2005 Brunt and teammates, Cassie Johnson, Jamie Johnson, and new addition, Jessica Schultz, were the Women's National Champions, awarding them the right to represent the United States in the 2006 Winter Olympics, held in Torino, Italy. The Johnson Rink competed in 2005 at the World Championships in Paisley, Scotland. The teams only losses of the week were against Sweden's Annette Norberg team, in the final. The Johnson Team won the silver medal. While expecting a strong finish at the Olympics with the silver medal win the previous year at World's, the Johnson team was disappointed going 2 and 7 at their first Olympics.