Taylor Everson (pink socks) and North Shore Roller teammate Alley Duclos met in the semifinals at the Lumberjack World Championships. Duclos won this close match and went on to win the World Championship in the Girls’ U10 division.
This year’s Namekagon River Roll Off in Hayward, Wisconsin held on Sunday, July 16, was one of the largest one-day log rolling competitions ever held— anywhere—with hundreds of professional and amateur matches conducted over a nine-hour period.
The event is held in the Lumber Jack Bowl, an area once used by logging companies to stage logs before rafting them down river to market.
Cook County YMCA North Shore Rollers
Alexis (Lexi) Plummer, Alley (Ali) Duclos and Taylor Everson competed in a deeply talented U10 girls division. The field had 24 girls rolling against each other in round robin competition that lasted almost seven hours.
Each match starts on #1 log which goes for one minute unless one of the competitors wins three of five falls. As the match goes on the logs get smaller. The #2 log is smaller, and matches run for two minutes. It takes a lot of skill to roll beyond the three log.
Left: Happy rollers (from left): Bear Atkinson, Alley Duclos, Paige Everson, Brandi Collman, Tanner Collman, Amber Collman and Taylor Everson. Above: North Shore Rollers Garrett Plummer, in front, with (L-R) sister Alexis Plummer, Taylor Everson, Paige Everson and Alley Duclos at Worlds.
Lexi had a great day. She went to the #5 log with Libby Magnone of Wauconda, Illinois. Lexi lost but came through the back brackets and ended up tied for sixth.
Taylor also got to the #5 log with Magnone. She rolled through the back brackets and met teammate Alley Duclos to see who would take third. Alley won 3-1 to finish third and Taylor placed fourth.
Garrett Plummer rolled in the U7 co-ed division in a field of 18 kids and ended up in fifth. Bear Atkinson placed second.
Paige Everson beat Madison, Wisconsin’s Caillie Cadero in the U17 girls’ field. Next Paige met Emma Magnone of Wauconda, Illinois with Paige falling 3-2. That put Paige in a match against Amber Collman of Cromwell to see who would finish third. Amber won three falls to one and Paige finished fourth.
Duclos Wins Lumberjack World Title
Less than one week later the North Shore Rollers were back in Hayward to compete in the 58th annual Lumberjack World Championships held July 20-22. Once again the largest division was the U10 girls. The trio of Taylor Everson, Alley Dcuclos and Alexis Plummer rolled straight into the semi finals. Alexis would lose a close match to Grace Berg from Lacrosse, Wisconsin and end up ninth place.
Everson and Duclos met with Alley winning three falls to one. The loss sent Taylor into the back bracket and she would end up in fifth place, a great showing.
Meanwhile Duclos defeated Caroline Horton of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin three falls to none to set up a championship match against Libby Magnone.
Libby and Alley know each other well, and skill wise, are pretty even so it was going to be a great match.
Down two falls to none, North Shore Roller coach Tony Everson pulled Duclos aside and settled her down. Duclos and Magnone were now on the #4 log. Duclos dug deep and took the next two falls to even the match up. By now the young ladies had timed out on the #4 log and were rolling on the #5 log. Sixteen seconds after the girls had pushed off from the dock the match was over. Alley tricked Libby on a quick back-step and Libby was in the water. Alley threw her arms up in victory, tears of joy streaming down her face as she realized she was the new U10 girls’ world champion.
With the win Alley joined three other North Shore Rollers who have won the U10 crown. Lucy Shaw—who now lives in Texas—was the first North Shore Roller to win world titles. Lucy won the U-7 and U10 girls’ titles at the Lumberjack World Championships. Last year Paige Everson won the U10 girls’ crown and Dominick Wilson took the boys’ U10 crown in 2013.
Paige Everson lost her first match to Amber Collman in the U17 girls’ bracket. Paige had to roll through the back bracket and she went on a tremendous tear, winning her next four matches to once again face Amber for third place. Paige was up two falls to none about Amber came back to win the next two falls. The last fall was an exciting back and forth, with Paige finally winning to take third place.
Meanwhile Garrett Plummer also had a great day rolling in his first ever appearance at the world championships. Garrett placed fifth overall, losing to Bear Atkinson. Bear continued on a winning tear to take the U-7 co-ed crown. Bear’s mother, Jenny, a long time professional log roller, started the log rolling program in Cook County. Both, hopefully, will be back for the Minnesota State Championships that will be held August 5 in Grand Marais.
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