Handing off saws in a timely manner and other technical teamwork elements allowed the SUNY-ESF Woodsmen teams to rank up enough points to finish first overall at the seventh annual East Coast Lumberjack Roundup.

‘We’ve been working our butts off,’ said David Andrews, the president of the Woodsmen team who competed in Tully, N.Y., on March 24. ‘So it was really nice to go down and be so successful after all of the work we have put in as a team.’

Half a second can make the difference between first and third, he said.

The 35-member State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry team competed against 24 teams from around the East Coast, such as the University of Connecticut and West Virginia University. The men and women’s teams came in first, while the co-ed team, the Jack-and-Jill team, finished second overall. ESF hosted the event.

The competition involved individual, double and triple rounds in which participants competed in events inspired by traditional logging skills such as sawing, chopping, racing through obstacle courses and climbing up 35-foot poles with spiked shoes.

‘That meet went off better than any that we’ve ever put on since I’ve been here, and I think a lot of it has to do with that field,’ Andrews said.

Natalie Scheibel, the vice president of the Woodsmen team, said the competition took place in a new, open, grassy field lined by spruce trees, which she said likely contributed to the teams’ success.

‘It was nice and very open, so you could see all of the events,’ Scheibel said.

Practicing more than two days a week was another factor that helped the team improve, she said.

Matt Marks, the coach of the Woodsmen team, said he uses a hands-off approach in coaching the team, emphasizing the demonstration of key techniques by older members to newer members.

‘I’m not a drill sergeant,’ Marks said. ‘But when I see someone really excited about a particular event, I will focus on them intensely.’ He said that overall, the team has always showed a lot of dedication and interest in the sport.

Although the competition at Tully involved many individual events, Marks said he thought the team did best in the events that involved more than two members, such as the logrolling and cross-cutting competitions.

Andrews said he feels gratified that the ESF team did so well at his final home competition because it is the program’s 100th anniversary and is part of a deep-rooted tradition at the school. The program, started in 1912, is the oldest student organization at ESF. The Woodsmen’s program is now run under the ESF athletics department.

Andrews said this has had both benefits and disadvantages for the program.

‘If we had won our home meet before we entered under athletics, I don’t think we would be recognized for it,’ Andrews said.

But he also said that the athletics department does not know as much about some of the more technical aspects of the Woodsmen competition. He said the department provided dry, uneven blocks of wood for the competition when symmetrical, green wood is considered better by experienced woodsmen.

The team’s spring meet at Dartmouth College is the peak of its season, Andrews said, because it includes more than 50 teams from all over the East Coast.

‘By the end of our last meet,’ Andrews said, ‘our hope is that we won’t have enough room in the back seat to carry all of our trophies.’

smhazlit@syr.edu 

Published on April 1, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Shannon: smhazlit@syr.edu