Above: Sophie Eliasen (on the right) won this best 3-5 falls against a young lady from Hayward in the Girls’ U10 Division. Eliasen won her first two matches before losing and then had to roll for third place against her teammate, Reilly Wahlers. Reilly ended up in third, but both Sophia and Reilly had a great tournament. Right: Luke Johnson (on the right) finished second overall in the Boys’ U10 Division at Namekagon.
While the weather was hot— 95 in the shade—the logrolling was even hotter at the Namekagon River Roll- Off held on Sunday, July 22 in Hayward, Wisconsin.
Jessica Berg-Collman once again led her younger teammates with a first place finish in the U17 Girls year old semipro division. Jessica will roll in the semi-pro division on Friday and Saturday (July 27-28) at the World Championships in Hayward, and then turn professional at the Fisherman’s Picnic event where the Minnesota State Championships are held.
Luke Johnson placed second in the Boys’ U10 division, while Reilly Wahlers and Sophie Eliasen competed against each other for the third and fourth places in the girls U10 bracket. All three won a lot of matches to advance in their age groups and all had a great tournament.
Wellesley Howard-Larsen took third place in the girls 11-13 year-old division, and while Paige Everson—who rolled two great matches in the Girls U10 division—didn’t place in the money, Paige still came away with valuable experience and learned a lot in the process. Paige has a bright future in log rolling.
Head Coach Jenny Atkinson rolled in the pro division and rolled well, but didn’t medal. Atkinson is in the midst of five tournaments in five weeks and is rolling and boom running on a sore ankle. As a busy mom and helpmate of husband Niel Atkinson—who is setting up the Lumberjack Camp festivities for Fisherman’s Picnic— Jenny is trying to fit all of the pieces together that will allow her to train enough to compete well against the younger pros and still maintain a semblance of balance in her life. Good luck, Jenny!
All in all it was a great tournament for the North Shore Rollers. They competed against kids from Madison, Hudson, Stillwater, River Falls, and of course, the always-tough Hayward area and more than held their own.
“I thought the kids had a great tournament and gained a lot of valuable experience,” said Julie Collman, who is the co-head coach of the North Shore Rollers.
By far the best looking and easily the most blond team at the Namekagon River Roll-Off was the North Shore Rollers. From front to back, Taylor Everson, Paige Everson, Luke Johnson, Sophie Eliasen, Reilly Wahlers, Jessica Berg-Collman, Wellesley Howard-Larsen and Julie Collman.
This weekend it’s off to the World Championships in Hayward at the same venue. With some experience under the belt, who knows, some of the kids could place well, and Jessica should be poised once again for a series of good matches against other girls ready to make their pro debuts in the near future. As she climbs the ladder, Jessica’s matches will get tougher, but it helps that she has been practicing almost daily with Atkinson, an eight-time log rolling world champion and coach extraordinaire.
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