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Senior Mandy Erdmann is world champ in two lumberjack events

By Elizabeth Child
July 30, 2003

St. Olaf College Senior Mandy Erdmann defended her world championship title in the boom run for the fifth straight year at the Lumberjack World Championship, July 25 to 27 in Hayward, Wis. The boom run is a 100-foot dash across logs ("booms") lashed end-to-end in open water and tied between two docks.

Erdmann also placed fourth in the log-rolling competition. Last year she was second in that event.

In addition, St. Olaf sophomore Doug Goodmundson and Erdmann were members of the winning team in the lumberjack team relay. Goodmundson lives in Wayzata, Minn. The two, who often practice together in the St. Olaf pool, competed in the boom-run legs of the relay, which also includes tree climbing, sawing and chopping.

The 44-year-old Lumberjack World Championship is the world's premier lumberjack event, drawing competitors from as far away as Australia.

Erdmann won the boom run with a time of 16.71 seconds, eclipsing her nearest competitor by a half second. Last year, Erdmann had won the title with a time of 18.15 seconds. "I beat the old time by two seconds, which is actually quite a bit in the boom run," she says. Her best time ever was 15.57 seconds in the 1999 Lumberjack World Championship -- a world record. "The boom run gets harder and harder every year. The logs are thinner and spin faster," Erdmann says.

The winning time for the team relay was 120.23 seconds. The second place team had a time of 123.79 seconds.

Erdmann is from LaCrosse, Wis., and has been competing in the Lumberjack World Championships for 15 years, starting with log rolling at age 7 and competing in the boom run for the past six years. She is a psychology major at St. Olaf College and plans to study nursing after graduation in 2004.

St. Olaf College, a national leader among liberal arts institutions, fosters the development of mind, body and spirit. It is a residential college in Northfield, Minn., and affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The college provides personalized instruction and diverse learning environments, with nearly two-thirds of its students participating in international studies.

Contact Carole Leigh Engblom at 507-786-3271 or leigh@stolaf.edu.