NOTE: Click here for complete stories and standings. The Games will be telecast beginning at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT July 14 on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.
Madison crowds beat attendance record
MADISON, Wis. — When the gates finally closed on ESPN Great Outdoor Games V presented by Dodge, nearly 70,000 fans had crisscrossed the 9-acre Alliant Energy Center grounds to watch lumberjacks, sporting dogs, anglers and target sports.
"This is a record year for attendance and we can't wait to watch all the coverage on ESPN and ABC beginning this Wednesday, July 14th," said Great Outdoor Games Director Eric Matijevich. "The crowds were large and very enthusiastic and our staff was very focused on conducting great competitions and lots of activities for people to do."
The final attendance tally was 68,424, which exceeded the last year's crowds in Reno, Nev., by 10,833.
"We appreciate all of the existing fans who came out to enjoy the Games in Madison and the new ones we got to introduce to this great event," Matijevich said.
Big Air
World Record Jumper Reclaims Lost Gold Medal
Little Morgan finally got a chance to get back to the top of Big Air at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.
After taking the gold medal with a world-record jump in 2002 and dropping to the silver tier of the podium last year, the 5-year-old black Labrador retriever leaped 23 feet, 1 inch, in the final round of Big Air on Sunday to grab the gold in the final event of this year's Games.
He had to wait a little longer than expected as rain delayed competition for about 30 minutes, and then recalibration of the Big Air scoring system caused an additional 45-minute wait.
After the wait, Little Morgan became the most decorated Big Air competitor with a total of three medals in three years of competition.
"That's a record we're really proud of," said handler Mike Jackson of Shakopee, Minn. "Usually a dog will win and then drop back. But we've managed to stay up there."
Sly, a 75-pound Chesapeake Bay retriever handled by Ken Butler of Tulsa, Okla., jumped 22-6 to grab the silver. Most handlers consider a dog Sly's size to be too heavy for Big Air competition, but Sly could help change that notion.
Sparky, a black Lab handled by Milt Wilcox of Huntington Woods, Mich., claimed the bronze with a jump of 20-11. Wilcox was the winning pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in Game 3 of the 1984 World Series.
Last year's gold medalist, Skeeter, failed to qualify for the four-dog final.
"We're a little disappointed, but we trained really, really hard this year," said handler Terry Casey of Parker, Texas. "We knew the competition was going to be a lot better this year. Training is starting to get a lot more specialized. A lot of people are starting to train specifically for Big Air."
In the final round on Sunday, Little Morgain failed to surpass the 24-foot mark, which he did in the semifinal round earlier in the afternoon. At no time in the competition did he close on the 26-foot, 6-inch record that he set in 2002, which still stands.
Part of that was probably Jackson's fault. Throwing a training dummy to spur Little Morgan into action, Jackson missed the mark, throwing high, short and slightly off center.
"The most important thing is to keep it in front of his nose," Jackson said.
A throwing error also caused Beau, who challenged Little Morgan in preliminary rounds with a jump of 24-2, to miss out on a medal.
Handler Chris Piacun of Metairie, La., failed to toss the training dummy on Beau's first jump in the finals, resulting in a 17-5 mark, and Beau's second and final jump went 20-2 after Piacun threw the dummy late.
Men's Log Rolling
American, Canadian Square Off for Gold
JR Salzman of Rochester, Minn., enhanced his collection of precious metals today with the gold medal in the Men's Log Rolling competition at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.
Salzman, who is also the 2004 gold medalist in Men's Boom Run, was out to upgrade the two silver medals he earned for Log Rolling and Boom Run in 2003. Darren Hudson, the 2002 Log Rolling gold medalist from Barrington, Nova Scotia, made Salzman work for the win, dumping the Army National Guardsman into the water twice before Salzman handed Hudson the third fall that decided the gold.
"JR is a competitor in unbelievable shape and a very aggressive player," Hudson said after the match. "You know that he is going to go all out from time to time and you just have to keep up with him. At times you have to just wait it out and wait for a chance to get back at him."
In the bronze medal final, two-time gold medalist Jamie Fischer of Stillwater, Minn. took the bronze medal from Brain Duffy, a district attorney from Hayward, Wis. in a 3-0 blowout. Fischer's total Great Outdoor Games tally now includes six gold and two bronze medals.
Women's Log Rolling
Wisconsin Women Dominate Medal Rounds
Tina Bosworth of Lake Geneva, Wis., the undefeated champion in the Women's Log Rolling competition at the ESPN Great Outdoors Games presented by Dodge, extended her reign as the event's Michael Jordan on Sunday at the Alliant Energy Center.
Bosworth, the only Games athlete to win every single gold medal in one event, didn't take a single fall on her way to the gold medal match, where she dropped another Wisconsin favorite, Lizzy Hoeschler of LaCrosse, three falls to zero.
"To win and keep winning, you musty stay on top of the game and log," Bosworth said. "You need to watch and feel your competitor on the log and when the chance is right, make you move and go all out."
Bosworth, the assistant principal of Badger High School in Lake Geneva, is the only female and the only timber sports athlete nominated for a 2004 ESPY Award in the Best Outdoors Athlete category. The ESPY ceremonies are hard on the heels of the Great Outdoor Games, July 18 at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT.
Bosworth thanked her fans, friends and students from the school that came out to cheer her on.
"Each medal means something special to me that I won. Something happened at each event that makes that medal special to me."
Hoeschler, who beat her older sister, Katie, in the semifinals to reach the medal match, said that she didn't feel Bosworth's record meant she is unbeatable.
Katie Hoeschler earned the bronze medal in a 3-0 match against Jenny Atkinson of Grand Marais, Wis. The Hoeschlers are the daughters of seven-time log rolling world champion Judy Scheer Hoeschler and the older sisters of Boom Run silver medalist Abby Hoeschler.
Agility
Texas Teams Outpace Competition to Earn Gold
Rain and a deteriorating course didn't deter Juice from winning the Sporting Dogs Agility competition in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge at Madison's Alliant Energy Center.
Juice, a 4-year-old Australian shepherd, and his handler, Marcus Topps of Garland, Texas, blazed through the 20-obstacle course in 41.158 seconds to win the gold. Theirs was the final run of the 16 dog-and-handler teams in the Large Dogs category, capping the contest about a half hour after rain began falling over the Games venue.
Mojo and Kathy Keats of Ontario were second and three-time medal winner Spring, handled by Julie Daniels of North Sandwich, N.H., captured the bronze. It is Spring's third bronze (2003, 2002) to go with a 2001 gold.
In the Small Dogs division, Hamlet and Renee King of Richmond, Texas, cruised to the gold medal with a smooth 44.232.
"The run felt really good and smooth," said King, a high school teacher who guided Spring to the IFCS Worlds all-around agility title in Spain last May. "I didn't take any chances and just let Hamlet run her course … but I held my breath on the last bars."
Marvel and Joel Lavalley of Murfreesboro, Tenn., claimed the Small Dogs silver medal in their first outing at the Games with a time of 45.389. Shimmer and Barb Davis of Newman Lake, Wash., took home the bronze with a 46.952.
Eight small dogs and 16 large dogs competed on an identical course that featured 20 obstacles. The dogs were timed leaping over hurdles, running through tunnels, climbing an A-frame stand and weaving through stakes. Time faults were assessed for knocking over hurdles or failing to hit specific marks on the A-frame or stakes.
