Allison Pottinger

Allison Pottinger /ˈpɒtəndʒər/ (née Darragh, born July 5, 1973) is an American curler from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. She is best known as having played for Debbie McCormick in multiple Olympics and World Championships. McCormick left the team in 2010. She competed in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, in Vancouver, Canada.^[1] She was named USA female curling athlete of the year in 2008.^[2]

Allison Pottinger
Curler
Pottinger at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Born	Allison Darragh (1973-07-05) July 5, 1973 (age 52) Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Team
Curling club	St. Paul CC, St. Paul, Minnesota
Curling career
Member Association	Minnesota
World Championship appearances	13 (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016)
Olympic appearances	2 (2010, 2014)
Medal record Women's curling Representing the  United States World Championships 2003 Winnipeg 1996 Hamilton 1999 Saint John 2006 Grand Prairie World Junior Championships 1994 Sofia United States Olympic Curling Trials 2009 Broomfield Team 2001 Ogden Team 2005 Madison Team 2013 Fargo Team United States National Championships 1995 Appleton 1996 Bemidji 1999 Duluth 2002 Eveleth 2003 Utica 2006 Bemidji 2007 Utica 2008 Hibbing 2009 Broomfield 2012 Philadelphia 2016 Jacksonville 2000 Ogden 2001 Madison 2004 Grand Forks 2005 Madison 2011 Fargo 2014 Philadelphia 2013 Green Bay United States Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2016 Denver

Career

Pottinger curls out of the St. Paul Curling Club in St. Paul, Minnesota. She learned how to curl in Otterburn Park, Quebec.^[1]

In 1994, Pottinger was an alternate for Erika Brown's silver medal-winning team at the 1994 World Junior Curling Championships. Pottinger picked up another silver medal at the 1996 World Curling Championships as the lead for Lisa Schoeneberg. In 1999, Pottinger won another silver medal, this time playing second for Patti Lank. In 2003, she had moved up to the position of third, and played for Debbie McCormick. In 2003, they won the first gold medal for an American team at the World Curling Championships. They would go to the Worlds again in 2006, where they won a silver medal.^[2]

Upon their semifinal win at the 2012 United States Women's Curling Championship, Pottinger and her team were qualified to participate at the 2014 United States Olympic Curling Trials.^[3] Her team lost in the trials, but Pottinger was selected as the Alternate for the victorious team (which includes former teammate McCormick). Pottinger attended the 2014 Olympics but was not selected to play in any matches for Team USA.

Personal life

Pottinger is a consumer insights manager with Rakuten Intelligence.^[4] She graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh and has bachelor's degrees in Political Science and History. She earned an MBA in Marketing at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She is married to Doug Pottinger^[1] and has two children.^[5]

Awards

• USA Curling Female Athlete of the Year: 2008, 2012
• USA Curling Team of the Year: 1999, 2003

Teams

Women's

Season	Skip	Third	Second	Lead	Alternate	Coach	Events
1993–94	Erika Brown	Debbie Henry	Stacey Liapis	Analissa Johnson	Allison Darragh		1994 USJCC 1994 WJCC [6]
1994–95	Lisa Schoeneberg	Erika Brown	Lori Mountford	Marcia Tillisch	Allison Darragh		1995 USWCC 1995 WWCC (6th)[7]
1995–96	Lisa Schoeneberg	Erika Brown	Lori Mountford	Allison Darragh	Debbie Henry		1996 USWCC [8] 1996 WWCC [9]
1996–97	Patti Lank	Analissa Johnson	Joni Cotten	Tracy Sachtjen	Allison Darragh		1997 WWCC (7th)[10]
1998–99	Patti Lank	Erika Brown	Allison Darragh	Tracy Sachtjen	Barb Perrella (WWCC)	Steve Brown (WWCC)	1999 USWCC 1999 WWCC
1999–00	Patti Lank	Erika Brown	Allison Darragh	Tracy Sachtjen		Steve Brown	2000 USWCC [11]
2000–01	Patti Lank	Erika Brown	Allison Darragh	Tracy Sachtjen		Keith Reilly	2001 USWCC [12]
2001–02	Patti Lank	Erika Brown Oriedo	Allison Darragh	Tracy Sachtjen		Bev Behnke	2001 USOCT [13]
	Patti Lank	Erika Brown	Allison Darragh	Natalie Nicholson	Nicole Joraanstad		2002 USWCC 2002 WWCC (8th)[14]
2002–03	Debbie McCormick	Allison Pottinger	Ann Swisshelm Silver	Tracy Sachtjen	Joni Cotten	Wally Henry	2003 USWCC [15] 2003 WWCC [16]
2003–04	Debbie McCormick	Allison Pottinger	Ann Swisshelm Silver	Tracy Sachtjen	Joni Cotten		2004 USWCC [17]
2004–05	Debbie McCormick	Allison Pottinger	Ann Swisshelm Silver	Tracy Sachtjen			2005 USWCC/USOCT [18]
2005–06	Debbie McCormick	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Tracy Sachtjen	Natalie Nicholson	Joni Cotten	2006 USWCC [19]
	Debbie McCormick	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Caitlin Maroldo	Wally Henry	2006 WWCC [20]
2006–07	Debbie McCormick	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Tracy Sachtjen		2007 USWCC [21][22]
	Debbie McCormick	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Maureen Brunt	Wally Henry	2007 WWCC (4th)[23]
2007–08	Debbie McCormick	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Tracy Sachtjen (WWCC)	Wally Henry	2008 USWCC [24][25] 2008 WWCC (7th)[26]
2008–09	Debbie McCormick	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Tracy Sachtjen	Wally Henry	2009 USWCC/USOCT [27] 2009 WWCC (9th)[28][29]
2009–10	Debbie McCormick	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Tracy Sachtjen	Wally Henry	2010 OG (10th)[30][31]
2010–11	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Tabitha Peterson			2011 USWCC
2011–12	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Tabitha Peterson	Cassandra Potter	Derek Brown	2012 USWCC 2012 WWCC (5th)
2012–13	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Tabitha Peterson			2013 USWCC
2013–14	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Tabitha Peterson	Tara Peterson (WWCC)	Derek Brown (WWCC)	2013 USOCT 2014 USWCC 2014 WWCC (6th)
	Erika Brown	Debbie McCormick	Jessica Schultz	Ann Swisshelm	Allison Pottinger	Bill Todhunter	2014 OG (10th)[32]
2015–16	Erika Brown	Allison Pottinger	Nicole Joraanstad	Natalie Nicholson	Tabitha Peterson (WWCC)	Ann Swisshelm (WWCC)	2016 USWCC 2016 WWCC (6th)[33]
2018–19	Allison Pottinger	Courtney George	Jordan Moulton	Regan Birr

Mixed doubles

Season	Male	Female	Events
2015–16	Allison Pottinger	Doug Pottinger	2016 USMDCC

Mixed

Season	Skip	Third	Second	Lead	Events
1995	Mike Fraboni	Allison Pottinger	Mark Swandby	Toni Swandby	1995 USMxCC
1998	Mike Fraboni	Allison Pottinger	Craig Brown	Tracy Sachtjen	1998 USMxCC

Grand Slam record

Key
C	Champion
F	Lost in Final
SF	Lost in Semifinal
QF	Lost in Quarterfinals
R16	Lost in the round of 16
Q	Did not advance to playoffs
T2	Played in Tier 2 event
DNP	Did not participate in event
N/A	Not a Grand Slam event that season

Event	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11
Autumn Gold	DNP	DNP	DNP	Q
Manitoba Lotteries	QF	Q	DNP	Q
Sobeys Slam	DNP	DNP	N/A	DNP
Players' Championships	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP