MADISON, Wis. — A penalty cost Erin LaVoie a shot at a gold medal and put the top-seeded Women's Endurance timber specialists in Friday's championship round in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge at Willow Island at the Alliant Energy Center.

LaVoie, going against defending gold medalist Peg Engasser of Cortland, N.Y., in one semifinal, was penalized for an improper cut on the opening Stock Saw exercise in the three-event competition.

The severed disks must be a complete circle, and LaVoie's disk wasn't uniformly thick enough in the judges' opinion. That penalty gave Engasser the win, pitting her against second-seeded Sheree Taylor of TeAhora, New Zealand, who won the gold in 2000 and 2002.

The three events of the competition include Stock Saw, in which the competitors use a standard chain saw to make a cut in a log with a downstroke and a second cut with an upstroke.

Competitors stand on an 11-inch log which they try to chop in half during the Underhand Chop, then run back to the original log and saw through a disc using a crosscut saw in the Single Buck competition.

Engasser was first off the Stock Saw by about a step but LaVoie caught up on the Underhand Chop before moving to the Single Buck finale.

She finished ahead by seconds, then learned the judges had issued the penalty that put Engasser in the finals and sent the 22-year-old from Spokane, Wash., competing in her first Great Outdoor Games, to the consolation round.

"It's not as satisfying," Engasser said of making the finals by a penalty decision. "It's heart-breaking, because I know what it feels like and it doesn't feel good to be on the other side. But it's disappointing, too, because you want to finish a race and say you did your best and your opponent did her best.

"I'm certain we'll see each other in more competitions, though, because Erin is a great competitor and athlete. She has a lot of good years ahead of her."

In the quarterfinals, Engasser and Taylor finished with near-identical times of about 1:37, as expected with the top seeds. Despite a great run, Engasser said she had jitters that bothered her with the Underhand Chop and had to ignore the noise of a packed crowd surrounding the stage as well as her competitor's work.

"Hearing the other person's saw causes me to tense up sometimes on the Single Buck and that's not good," she explained. "I try not to listen, but it's hard not to sometimes. I thought I did alright (against LaVoie) but I need to use the whole saw. I wasn't doing that.

"When it feels right it's effortless and when it's not, your arms get tired and you know it's not right. It's like hitting that perfect golf shot when you get the sweet spot on the club. In a regular Single Buck race I might count strokes (of the saw), but not in an endurance race."

Taylor was battling crowd favorite Penny Halvorson of Alma Center, Wis., who was seeded third and knocked off reigning Canadian women's champion Dany Boulanger in the quarterfinals.

With the crowd cheering on Halverson, who came off the Stock Saw first to their delight, Taylor caught up with a smooth effort on the Underhand Chop and then cruised easily with the saw to finish before Halvorson made her third cut.

An admitted "perfectionist," as she also described Engasser, Taylor said her focus in each of the three exercises is accuracy with each cut to eliminate the most wood with the fewest strokes.

"If you make a little mistake, you suffer down the road and it costs you," Taylor said. "With the chop, you want the fewest cuts as possible. I try not to just concentrate on one exercise … you have to be good in all of them and try to get that balance. What good is it to be really good in one and not in the others?"

Although they never have met in competition, Engasser pegged Taylor as tonight's favorite. Taylor, though, said the event should be an even match. "Peg's very strong and is a great athlete," she said. "She is a perfectionist and I am, too. We came out of the first round with the same times, so what can you say? I'm confidence — not conceited, but I'm confident and I know she is, too."

Women's Endurance (through semis)

Semi-Final Round
Peg Engasser 1:38.771 def Erin Lavoie 1:43.633
Sheree Taylor 1:23.814 def Penny Halvorson 1:47.900

Quarter-Final Round
Peg Engasser 1:37.228 def Mary Dooley 1:58.828
Erin Lavoie 1:41.266 def Nancy Zalewski 2:00.900
Sheree Taylor 1:37.281 def Brenda Boyko 2:17.350
Penny Halvorson 1:54.071 def Dany Boulanger 4:00.000