Macalester Cross Country Athlete Also A World-Champion Log Roller

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- When Gretchen Greene runs a race, it's only part of the picture of her athletic accomplishments. Cross country isn't her only sport.

But Greene is anything but your typical two-sport athlete.

"We usually call ourselves lumberjills," Greene says with a laugh.

Greene is also a world-class log roller, ranked among the best on earth. She started at age 9 at the urging of a friend, turned pro at 16, and two years ago, the summer before her freshman year at Macalester, she won the World Championship in Hayward, Wisconsin -- becoming one of the youngest world champions ever.

How does one become a world-class log roller?

"I guess you just gotta practice a lot," Greene said. "I really have always enjoyed log rolling. It's really just something I did to have a lot of fun. I love to just go out to the lake and practice."

And Greene has practiced a lot, logging hour after hour on the water.

An attraction common to your summertime lumberjack shows and state fairs, the rules of log rolling are pretty simple. It's a best of five -- the first to spin their opponent off three times wins.

"I try and stay pretty patient, because I feel like if I'm just trying to rush it and get the other person to fall in, I usually wind up making myself fall in," Greene said. "Be able to keep your feet moving. You can't stop them ever. Otherwise you go right in."

So is log rolling her offseason training for cross country? Or is cross country her offseason training for log rolling?

"I guess I like to think that they go pretty hand-in-hand," she said. "Because I think being able to run is great training for log rolling."

Because as hard as this looks -- as hard as it is -- she says it's not nearly as hard as running a cross country race.

"That awful, tired feeling you get towards the end of a race -- the only time I ever experience something like that is during a cross country race," she said. "In a cross country race you can kind of keep moving, even when you're really exhausted. But on the log, you usually fall in before you get to that point."