ESPN TIMBERSPORTS

Final Results

EUREKA, Calif. — Everybody thought David Green was finished.

The lumberjack from Central Oregon Community College dropped to the ground in pain after finished his standing block chop in the third of four disciplines at the Western Conclave of the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Collegiate Challenge presented by Carhartt.

He suffered the injury the day before while moving heavy objects for the conclave, but didn't think it would be much of an issue. And it wasn't until the standing block that the pain of what was happening became real for Green. He eventually picked himself up off the ground holding his right triceps and retreated to the back of the event grounds, away from the crowd.

"That was when it was the worst," Green said. "I didn't want to hang out here and embarrass myself on the ground in pain."

The paramedics on site put his arm in a sling and told him he should go the hospital. Green hung around to see how things were going in the final discipline — the single buck.

The single buck is his best event, and 20 minutes after rolling around through wood chips, writhing in pain, he took off his sling and prepared his saw. Roughly a minute after that, he was the west champion.

But Green's day, like everyone else's, started with the underhand chop.

Underhand chop

Last year's STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Western Conclave champion Adrian Flygt was in the first heat of the underhand chop, and he set a pace nobody would catch.

His time of 30.36 seconds was 6 seconds faster than a Green's second-place time. At this point, Green's arm wasn't giving him too much trouble.

Flygt had been working all year on improving his chopping, and the clean cut and sharp angles were a testament to the time invested.

"It felt real good," said Flygt, of Colorado State University. "For me it's really big to go first. I feel liked a caged animal on a lot of these days. Getting a win out the way is important. I'm not chasing anybody, so it helps me settle down."

The early tight race between Flygt and Green was a sign of things to come.

Stock Saw

Flygt was also in the first heat of the stock saw, and again put up a respectable time (21.63 seconds). It was one of five times that finished between 21 and 23 seconds, in the closest event of the day.

The best of that group, Mike Lilly, got the nine points awarded to the winner of a discipline after completing a down and up cut in 21.22 seconds.

"I just wanted to keep up the RPM and have a good transition on the up-cut," said Lilly, who works for a timber management company in Idaho when he's not at the University of Montana. "I never really practice the stock saw, but I use a saw a lot at work, so it feels very natural in my hands."

Flygt's time held up to give him second place, and Green's time of 21.73 seconds was good enough for third.

In contrast to the Southeast Conclave, where seven of the 15 competitors DQ'd in the stock saw, everyone had a clean cut on Friday.

Standing block chop

Flygt and Green were going head-to-head in the standing block chop, and rightfully so. And like the rest of the day, it was incredibly close. For the third straight event, Flygt (44.12 seconds) finished just in front of Green (44.86 seconds).

It was a half a swing and only one point, but with Green going down, it looked like the championship would be a formality for Flygt.

"It hurt so bad, I felt like my arm was falling off," Green said.

The winner of the standing block, Brian Rupp, put himself in position to make a late push. He was six points behind Flygt, which meant he needed to beat Flygt by six places (out of nine competitors) in the final event — single buck — to tie for the lead.

"I only started practicing vert-block two months ago," said Rupp, of the University of Idaho. "I tried to maintain good angles and knock them in flat, have a good motion and set the block up right."

It looked to be a two-man race again between Flygt and Rupp, with Flygt supremely in the driver's seat. He was only three points up on Green, but it seemed unlikely Green would compete in the single buck.

Single Buck

The single buck started off bad for Flygt and got worse.

He hadn't been comfortable with his saws all week, constantly going back and forth on which would be best to use. He chose incorrectly, constantly getting hung up and even bowing his saw two or three times. His time of 1:48.62 was the second worst of the five competitors who had gone by the time his heat finished, and it was well under Rupp's time of 1:08.12.

But the world hadn't fallen apart yet. Flygt just needed one on the final four competitors to do worse than him, and he'd at least tie for the championship. All that assuming Green doesn't go, which everyone was assuming since he was wrapped in a sling and looked to be in constant pain.

Flygt didn't get his wish in the second to last heat when both Seth Bergman (Flathead Valley Community College) and Lilly beat his time. That only left Green and one of the two lumberjills competing, Stephanie Brana (University of Nevada).

But when the time came — in the last heat — Green took off his sling, straightened his face and waited for the starting whistle. His rehearsed form and focus helped him to never get caught up as he sawed through the log in 56.32 seconds, which was 12 seconds faster than second place.

"When he put his starter cut in that single buck, you could tell he knew what he was doing," said Dave Jewett, a professional on the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series and an announcer for the Collegiate Series, which will air on ESPNU.

Just like the standing block, Green went to the ground in pain after he finished.

"My arm hurt, but that's when you've got to get through it mentally," Green said.

When he was announced the winner, he was overcome with emotion, and pain.

"This couldn't be better," he said, starting to tear up. "Since last year, I've trained for this really hard and worked my butt off. I put my heart into it and it worked."

As for the two months before the collegiate finals in Columbus, Ga., Greens plan is pretty simple.

"Work my butt off and get this arm healed," he said.