Kari Erickson (born December 18, 1971, as Kari Liapis) is an American curler and Olympian.

Career

Erickson started curling in 1988 and had a successful junior career, winning the Minnesota State Junior Championship five years in a row, 1989–1993. Three of those years she went on to win the United States Junior Championship (1990, 1992, 1993). Winning the US Championship allowed her to represent the United States at the World Junior Championships, at which she finished 5th, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively. In 1994 Erickson made her first appearance at the United States Women's Championship, making it to the semifinals. After a few year gap she returned to the National Championship five more times in a six year span: 1997 (2nd), 1998 (1st), 1999, 2001 (1st), 2002 (2nd). As US Champion in 1998 and 2001 she represented the United States at the World Women's Championships, finishing 7th in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and 5th in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. She has twice competed at the US Olympic Trials, finishing third in 1998 and first in

. At the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

in Salt Lake City the Erickson team had a 6–3 record at the end of the round robin. The United States team lost to Switzerland in the semifinals and Canada in the bronze medal match to finish 4th. Erickson's Olympic team included her sister Stacey Liapis at

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and her dad Mike Liapis as coach.

Personal life

Erickson is the sister of Stacey Liapis. She is married to Darren Erickson and has two children.

Teams

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erickson, Kari 1971 births Living people People from Bemidji, Minnesota American female curlers Olympic curlers for the United States Curlers at the 2002 Winter Olympics American curling champions 21st-century American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen