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For the second time this month, the ��Ӱֱ�� State Pioneer Woodsmen’s Club sawed, rolled, chopped, and climbed its way to the top in two divisions at a timber sports competition.

The club earned a first-place finish in both the men’s and the Jack and Jill divisions, respectively, Saturday, Oct. 17 at Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks, marking the first time the club has captured back-to-back wins in both areas. Two weeks prior, the club took first in the same divisions at the Finger Lakes Logging Sports Competition at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua.

Team, individual, and double events at the Oct. 17 competition included bowsaw, log roll, tree-climbing, barrel-splitting, pulp toss, birling, underhand chopping, and more. The boom run event, in which competitors must run across the top of 11 logs that are tied together end-to-end and floating on a pond, posed a challenge to the Pioneers because they did not have a set-up that allowed them to train for the event. In the end, however, they prevailed.

“Our team was still able to get very respectable points in the boom run, which helped to put us over the top,” said coach Scott Bingham.

��Ӱֱ�� State competed against several other schools Oct. 17, including Finger Lakes Community College, Paul Smith’s, the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), the SUNY-ESF Ranger School, Morrisville State, SUNY Cobleskill, and the University of Vermont. Bingham said “axes, saws, and skills, are being honed,” as the club prepares for its final competition Saturday, Oct. 24 at SUNY ESF in Syracuse.

Pictured in photo: Pioneer Woodsmen’s Club members, along with their majors and hometowns, are, front row, from left to right: Kara Stone, surveying and geomatics engineering technology, Lake View; Dan Ognibene, construction management engineering technology, Alexander; Max Laramie, mechanical engineering technology, Boonville; Kevin Koerner Jr., technology management, Lancaster; and Kristina Kriger, agricultural business, Friendship. 

Second row, from left to right, are: Marissa Saunders, electromechanical engineering technology, Lindley; Zachary Herrington, mechanical engineering technology, Horseheads; Francesca Mastrobattisto, building trades: building construction, Baldwinsville; Mike Oyer, assistant coach; Gavin Maloney, masonry, Rome; Sutton Carhart, construction management engineering technology, Stafford; Dan Christoffersen, construction management engineering technology, Port Crane; and Scott Bingham, coach. 

Third row, from left to right, are: Josh Cook, construction management engineering technology, East Syracuse; Frank Kowalski, mechanical engineering technology, Elba; and Benjermin Wood, construction management engineering technology, Hector.