Four days a week, Morrisville State College student Emily French augments her studies with a different kind of learning. Firing up a chainsaw, she cuts three cross-cut sections off of a log in the shortest amount of time.
Cutting through the five-inch piece of wood takes precision and speed, skills the Westport resident is honing as a member of the college’s wood sports team.
French, a human performance and health promotion student, is among MSC students participating in the sport that showcases speed and precision with axes, chainsaws and other tools of the trade in traditional lumberjacking challenges.
The MSC wood sports team hopes to make its mark in two upcoming competitions; the Eighth Annual Intercollegiate Woodsmen Team Competition April 9 at SUNY Cobleskill, and the 70th Annual Northeast Woodsmen’s Clonclave, April 22 and 23, at Alfred State. MSC will field a co-ed and a men’s team at each.
With more experience under their belts, more equipment and newer equipment, this year’s team is determined. The team meets to practice at least four times a week for three hours, on their outdoor training field at the college’s aquaculture center.
French is training for horizontal chop and stock saw competitions. “Both events test me on my accuracy and speed with the tools,” she said. In the horizontal chop, she is standing on a chopping block, attempting to split it in half in the fewest amount of hits.
Dairy management student Kyle Clark joined the team about a year ago. “When this team was established, we started with nothing; no equipment, no experience,” Clark said.
But Seth Carsten and Brendan Kelly are changing all of that. Carsten, MSC instructional support assistant and team coach, and Brendan Kelly, MSC professor and team manager, are building the team’s arsenal of tools and students. Students of all majors and abilities are welcome to join.
“Being on the team is a lot of hard work, but some of my most fond memories are thanks to this team,” Clark said. “Mr. Carsten has a rare dedication to the sport and this team.”
Carsten and Kelly have hopes the team will become a club or sport in the future, which may help to support costs, an ongoing challenge.
The team has relied on donations for their registration fees and equipment. As for tools, Carsten utilizes the equipment they have, and helps to defray the cost of buying new equipment by making and repairing some of their tools at home.
The college’s wood for practices, which comes from felling trees through the college’s natural resources conservation and other programs, helps absorb some of the costs other teams face.
Faculty and campus departments have shown their support, stepping in to help where they can. The college’s residential construction program has helped cut practice logs, while faculty and students in the mechanical engineering department helped build the team’s Peavey tools.
In the days leading up to their competition, Morrisville’s team members will focus on perfecting their timing and technique.
Morrisville’s wood sports team is comprised of:
Returning members:
Kaitlyn Baker, (team captain) a natural resources conservation student from VanEtten
Tyler Kulikowski, an agricultural engineering major from Bath
Zachary Davis, a natural resources conservation major from Angola
Kyle Clark, a dairy management student from Delhi
Griffin Kleps, a residential construction student from Old Forge
Colton Sanders, a natural resources conservation student from Victoria, Ill.
First-year members:
Tyler Curtis, an individual studies major from Hamilton
Emily French, a human performance and health promotion student from Westport
Brittany Gale, an equine science student from Newfane
Morgan Osofs, an equine science and management student from Oceanside
Ashley Mount, a dairy management major from Troy
Damen Finch, an automotive technology student from Sydney
Brent Harris, a natural resources conservation student from Hamilton
Teams competing at the Cobleskill contest include; Morrisville, SUNY Cobleskill, Finger Lakes Community College, Paul Smith’s College, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Alfred University, Pennsylvania State University and the SUNY-ESF Ranger School.
Teams competing in the Northeast Woodmen’s Conclave at Alfred State in addition to Morrisville State College include; Alfred State, Colby College, University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, Paul Smith’s College, University of Connecticut, SUNY Cobleskill, Finger Lakes Community College, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), SUNY ESF Ranger School and Wanakena, West Virginia University, Penn State, and University of Dartmouth.
The competitions are free and open to the public.