ESPN TIMBERSPORTS

COLUMBUS, Ga. — Going into the final round, Adam LaSalle and Matt Slingerland led the standings, tied with 12 points each after the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS presented by Carhartt Collegiate Semi-finals. When the sawdust settled, LaSalle had taken the championship — but he didn't do it alone.

Because the scoring setup sent the top two finishers from the semifinal round to compete head-to-head in the finals, LaSalle and Slingerland were only in direct competition in the standing block and single buck competitions, the first and third events. They competed individually in the second and fourth — the stock saw and the underhand chop — with Slingerland out of the stock saw and LaSalle absent from the underhand chop.

LaSalle managed to jump out to an early lead, posting a 26.54-second run in the standing block, halving Slingerland's time.

"These victories are going to be pretty crucial to both of us seeing as we're tied," LaSalle said, "and then it's just going to come down to our (individual) events."

Slingerland finished the event slowly, gave his axe a disgusted look as he handed it to his father, professional lumberjack Mike Slingerland, and strode angrily from the stage.

"Oh my God, everything happened," Slingerland fumed. "I wasn't using an axe I was used to, and I suck. I need to practice. My other one broke yesterday (during semifinal competition) so I used the new one and it was a little bit longer handle and I wasn't ready for it."

In a close race, LaSalle also won the stock saw event, besting second-place competitor David Green's time by just under a half-second. The victories in the first two events gave LaSalle the edge going into his second matchup with Slingerland in the single buck event.

Going stroke for stroke, LaSalle had a slight edge in the single buck until his saw hung up with just centimeters holding the cookie in place. Slingerland eeked out a half-second victory, giving himself a chance to force a saw off with LaSalle if he could win the underhand chop.

"It was a must win," Slingerland said. "I have to win the next event to tie Adam. I was pretty happy with it because it would have been the end of my day if I didn't win."

All that LaSalle could do was wait. His collegiate championship and a spot on the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS professional circuit was in the hands of Curtis Karboski, but fortunately, for LaSalle, Karboski was a teammate of his at Paul Smith's College — The College of the Adirondacks in far upstate New York, wedged between Canada and Vermont.

"I've been friends with Curt for a long time," LaSalle said. "Actually, I was graduating captain of the team at Smitty's (Paul Smith's College)when he started there. I told him, 'Just take that event back from yesterday. Better yourself.' And he did."

Karboski, the spoiler for Slingerland, improved his time by five seconds from the prior day's competition, burying Slingerland, who was again having trouble with the replacement axe.

"Yeah, well, me and LaSalley are old teammates, so I wanted him to win," said Karboski happily.

As for LaSalle, he had mixed emotions about the win. Pride and satisfaction were there, certainly, but they were tempered by his being somewhat daunted at the prospect of competing against seasoned pros in 2010.

"It's a sigh of relief, that's for sure," he said. "And it's intimidating, but now I've gotta seriously train a lot more than I have been and spend some money. And put in more time — that's all I can do right now. Just put as much time in as I can."