A large crowd turned out to cheer for log rollers who came from Wisconsin, Illinois and throughout Minnesota to compete in the Minnesota State Logrolling Championships held Saturday, August 3. Above: A pigtailed Libby Magnone (right) beat Taylor Everson for the U7 title. Left: Ellie Davenport, Hudson, Wis., defeated Wellesley Howard- Larsen 3 falls to 2 to take the U17 title match.
Although there weren’t any professional log rollers or boom runners entered in the Fisherman’s Picnic log rolling tournament this year, plenty of amateurs were on hand to entertain the large crowd and to compete to see who could become a state champion in his or her age group.
Hosted by the North Shore Rollers log rolling team and moderated by Jessica Berg-Collman, the tournament featured kids competing in five age divisions to see who could become a Minnesota State Champion.
In the U5 division (the crowd’s favorite division) mighty little roller Alexis Plummer beat Esme Ashcroft to take first place. A shivering (the water in the tank was from Lake Superior!) Lauren Berglund placed third.
Placing first in the U7 division was Libby Magnone from Illinois. Taylor Everson of Grand Marais was second and Tanner Collman of Cromwell placed third.
The final in the U10 girls’ division came down to Taylor Everson and Emma Magnone of Illinois. Although Everson rolled well, Emma came in first with Amber Collman (Jessica’s first cousin) in third.
In the U10 boys’ division Dominic Wilson and Dominick Magnone squared off for the second time in two weeks, and again the North Shore Rollers’ Wilson placed first with Magnone placing second. Jacob Diehert finished third for the second week in a row.
Steadily improving, Reily Wahlers came back from 2 falls down to defeat teammate Robin Henrickson in her first match 3-2, and then went on to defeat all of her other competitors to take her first title in the U13 girl’s division. Placing second and third were Anna Davenport and Alicia Deithart of the Hudson team.
Andrew Serpico of Hudson placed first in the U13 boy’s division, with Alex Perez in second and North Shore roller Luke Johnson in third.
A small field of U17 rollers meant that Wellesley Howard-Larsen could move up from the U13 division and compete against older, more experienced kids. Wellesley beat 17-year-old Anjali Krongard 3 falls to 1 before losing 3 falls to 2 to reigning U17 girls log rolling world champion Ellie Davenport of Hudson. Dominik Serpico rolled against all of the girls and won the overall title, although he did hit the water spectacularly several times after the young ladies rolled him off the log.
Originally cancelled, the tournament was made possible by sponsors Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply, Studio 61 Hair Design, Northstar Cabling, Glenn Peterson Construction, Arrowhead Pharmacy, and Clearview General Store. Neil and Jenny Atkinson also donated their logrolling tank and assisted with putting it up and Peter and Amy Henrickson designed and made the awards. Parents from several teams also helped with timing and assisted in many ways to make this exciting event a success. A big thank you to Tony and Andrea Everson for putting the tournament together at the last moment.
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