Above: A fast-footed Dominick Wilson steps near the middle of the log to momentarily slow it down while his competitor madly churns water, trying valiantly to stay on the log, which he failed to do. Wilson only lost one fall in the entire U17 boy’s class. Right: Alley Duclos (L) displays perfect form, using her arms to help keep her balance. Alley took first place in the girls’ U13 class.
After taking an extended break from competition Dominick Wilson showed the rest of the U17 boys entered in the 18th annual La Crosse Open that he still has what it takes to come out and win.
Wilson rolled exceptionally well in the U17 bracket. His first match was against Larsen Birdsong, a tremendous young roller from Onalaska, Wisconsin.
After losing the first fall, Wilson’s coach, Tony Everson, pulled him aside and told him to settle down and concentrate. That advice worked so well that Wilson never lost another fall in any of the rest of his matches, winning them 3-0 in a best of five falls.
Once again Lutsen roller Alley Duclos had a great tournament. Alley received a first-round bye and then won her next two matches to set up a final against Grace Berg from La Crosse in the U13 girls’ bracket.
Duclos closed out Berg 3-0 in the final to take her second win of the season.
In a deep bracket of U13 girls once again it was a long day of rolling for Grand Marais’ Taylor Everson.
Taylor rolled a long hard match against Susanna Priest of Minneapolis.
The young ladies started on a 1-log, the largest log, running, quick stopping, splashing water at each other with their feet, for one minute before going to the 2-log where they did much of the same for two minutes. As the number that designates the logs gets bigger, it denotes that the logs actually are getting smaller in circumference.
The smaller the wood, the harder to balance on. With the weight of both competitors, the log is usually spinning underwater most of the time.
As for Taylor and Susanna, they rolled all the way down to the 5-log with the entire match lasting 25 minutes.
With the count at two falls each, Susanna ended up winning the match on the toothpick sized 5-log.
An exhausted Taylor next rolled again only to fall short to Caroline Horton of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin 3-1. Taylor ended up in 5th place in the U-13 girls’ division.
Representing the North Shore Rollers at the La Crosse Open competition, which featured both pros and amateurs, were, from L-R: Paige Everson, Dominick Wilson, Ali Duclos, and Taylor Everson.
Because there was a small group in the girls’ U-17 field Paige Everson and the other girls in that bracket rolled against the adult sports group.
In her first competition this season, Paige placed third in a round robin bracket.
Bear Atkinson, son of founder of North Shore Rollers Jenny and Neil Atkinson, rolled in the U-10 division.
As usual, the U-10 boys’ field was loaded with participants. However, Bear’s mom, Jenny, is a multiple world champion log roller and with her coaching Bear, he made the finals and lost a great match to Ellis Priest of Minneapolis.
Next, it was Jenny’s turn to test the pro field. This was a different sort of competition for the pros, however; the event was held in a pool, and not on a lake or a river where they compete in spiked shoes. Here it was back to tennis shoes and Jenny, who is a cancer survivor and whisker-close to age 40, rolled well enough to place 6th.
Ellie Davenport, a junior in college from Hudson, Wisconsin rolled high schooler Holmen’s Livi Papadopolous of Holmen, Wisconsin for first and second with Livi taking the victory.
This was a great tune-up tournament for competitors to get ready to compete at the Hayward, Wisconsin Lumberjack World Championships which are less than two weeks away.
The Wunderbar, North Shore Title, Grand Marais State Bank, Hungry Jack Lodge, Gunflint Mercantile, The Big Lake, Glenn Peterson Construction, Java Moose, Timberwolf Realty, Hedstrom’s Lumber Company Inc. and Northstar Cabling sponsor the North Shore Rollers.
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