Left: Showing amazing balance, strength and foot speed, North Shore Roller Ali Duclos (left) and Libby Magnone laid everything on the line—or log—in this U-10 girls’ match. Above: Minnesota State Champs (L-R) Ali Duclos, Taylor Everson and Libby Magnone display the awards made by Tony and Andrea Everson.
Dominic Wilson led the North Shore Rollers with his first place finish in the boys’ U-13 bracket at the Minnesota State Log Rolling Championships held in Grand Marais on Saturday, August 6.
Wilson defeated Dominick Magnone of Wauconda, Illinois three falls to none in a best of five falls match. Magnone was crowned boys’ U-13 World Champion last week in Hayward, Wisconsin at the Lumberjack World Championships. Wilson finished third at that meet.
Alexis Plummer finished second in the U7 co-ed field to Aini Anderson. Bear Atkinson, son of Niel and Jenny Atkinson, Clearwater Lake, placed 5th and Garrett Plummer, brother of Alexis, placed 7th.
Libby Magnone, youngest of the Magnone clan, finished her year undefeated in the U-10 girls’ field. Libby beat North Shore Roller Taylor Everson in an exciting match for first place. Ali Duclos finished third and local rollers Kamryn Johnson placed 5th and Grace Nomenmacher, 7th in the field.
North Shore Roller Tanner Collman of Cromwell won the U-10 boys’ crown over Sullivan Johnson of Minneapolis.
Emma Magnone defeated Paige Everson in the U-13 girls’ bracket. Paige placed first at Worlds while Magnone placed third at Worlds. While they are friends, the girls have rolled against each other many times and compete hard when it comes to squaring off on a log.
The most spirited match of the day just might have been the contest between Amber and Brandi Collman in the girls’ U-13 group. The sisters were vying for third place and it looked like it was going to be over fast when older sister Amber went up two falls to none over Brandi. But that’s before Brandi rallied to tie it 2-2. Amber had to dig deep to get her sister to fall off to take third place.
Andrew Serpico of Hudson beat Kody Koblitz of Onalaska, Wisconsin to take the boys’ U-17 crown.
Nick Howe battled Chris Serpico (who worked in the pool with the kids all day) in the Adult Sport division.
The 2016 Fisherman’s Picnic Tennis Open Doubles champions are the father and son team of Bill Joynes of Golden Valley, Minnesota and Will Joynes of New Hope, Minnesota. The men have long ties to the North Shore, their father and grandfather, Floyd Joynes is the oldest of the Joynes family of Grand Marais. Bill and Will were told they have participated in the tournament more than any other team over the years.
Livi Pappadopoulos of Holmen, Wisconsin didn’t lose a fall while dominating the U-17 girls’ division. At age 14, Livi hasn’t lost a match in almost three years, and rarely loses a fall in a meet.
Despite taking eight months off from the sport, Sophie Eliasen placed second in the U-17 girls’ group. Sophie lost to Livi Pappadolous and to Alicia Diethert, but Diethert lost to her teammate Anna Davenport and then Sophie, down two falls to none to Davenport, came back to take that match three falls to two, which left the three young ladies all tied for second place.
At that point it came down to falls and Davenport and Eliasen were tied, with Alisha just behind them. Judges then based second place on head-to-head competition and because Sophie had beaten Anna Davenport, she ended up in second place.
Highlighting the meet was 18-year-old professional Women’s World champion Ellie Davenport of Hudson, Wisconsin. Davenport defeated Lacrosse, Wisconsin native Katie Rick three falls to one. Jenny Atkinson, of Stillwater, Minnesota and Clearwater Lake, ended her long day of announcing the eight-hour meet with a third place finish while Brenda Boyko of Idaho placed fourth in the adult professional Women’s bracket. Both Boyko, originally from British Columbia, and Atkinson have crossed the 40-year mark, and yet both are still able to compete very well against younger rollers.
All in all it was a great tournament. Log rollers from China, Nevada, Montana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and, of course, Minnesota all competed in an event that is growing larger every year.
Leave a Reply