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Two top finishes for the Yukon curling teams competing at the Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials left athletes brimming with pride today.

Robert and Jody Smallwood finished in the top-eight 鈥� one point shy of a semifinal berth 鈥� and Mitch Young and Chelsea Duncan finished with a playoff appearance of their own at the national championships in Leduc, Alta.

Robert Desjardins and Isabelle N茅ron of Quebec won the tournament, and will go on to represent Canada at the 2013 World Mixed Doubles Championship April 13 to 20 in Fredericton, N.B.

The Smallwoods finished the round-robin 4-3, while Young and Duncan were a sparkling 6-1. The tournament featured 32 teams divided into four pools.

The Smallwoods lost 8-7 to Saskatchewan's Dean Hicke and Chantelle Eberle in their quarter-final game Sunday.

The Yukon champs had won their first playoff game in style, scoring a perfect six-ender to win 10-5 over Hicke and Eberle's mixed team championship teammates Jason and Colleen Ackerman.

"It's perfect,鈥� Robert Smallwood said today. "It's like getting an eight-ender if you're throwing regular rocks. Even the other team 鈥� he had to count it twice, because he just couldn't understand there was six of our rocks in the house. And that was it.

That was the breaking point for them. They just shook hands.鈥�

Smallwood said he was proud to represent the Yukon at a national event, and Young agreed.

"There's definitely a lot of pride playing for the Yukon and seeing that we're doing well and people are looking at us like we're good curlers,鈥� the 21-year-old said.

"There's depth in good curling here in the Yukon, not just the one or two odd ones that goes to the Brier.

"It was a little bit of a surprise, but it was nice that we were curling well and winning games.鈥�

Young competed with fellow 21-year-old Duncan for the first time, and the two found instant chemistry, winning six straight games after dropping their first 8-6 to former world champions Hicke and Eberle.

"We realized that halfway through the game,鈥� said Duncan of their opponents' championship status. "We loss in an extra end, so we were upset, but also pretty proud of that. And then we just went on a roll.鈥�

Young and Duncan dropped their playoff game to former national mixed champions Mark Dacey and Heather Smith-Dacey of Nova Scotia by a score of 9-3.

"We only lost two games total, and one was in an extra end, so that's really good for the first time curling with Mitch together, and having no prior experience going into it,鈥� said Duncan.

"It's cool to play against people that you've seen on TV,鈥� added Young. "You're a little bit in awe when you curl against people like that. But when you curl against them, they're still your opponents. They were beatable, but they were curling amazing against us. They beat us fair and square.鈥�

Young said he was happy that the Smallwoods made it a round farther than he and Duncan did.

"They finished strong and I was glad that since they were the Yukon champs, that they got to another round than us,鈥� he said.

"They're both really nice people and good curlers. I didn't want to outshine them.鈥�

Smallwood said that prior to the championship, Young asked him if he could wear his Yukon jacket while competing.

"We said 鈥楬ey, anyone coming from the Yukon that wants to represent the Yukon, we don't mind,'鈥� Smallwood said. "They did fantastic through the round robin play.鈥�

Meanwhile, at the Senior Championships in Summerside, P.E.I., neither Yukon team qualified for the main draw.

Team Mikkelsen heads home early after the Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia beat out the Yukon and Nunavut to qualify for the men's draw, while Team Grant also lost out to N.W.T. and British Columbia in the qualifiers.