MADISON, Wis. — Twenty-five-year-old J.R. Salzman may be overseas in a U.S. Army uniform during next year's ESPN Great Outdoor Games. If so, Salzman shipped off in style.

The Rochester, Minn., resident won the gold medal in men's Log Rolling Sunday to go with two other gold medals captured earlier in the Boom Run and Mixed Doubles Boom Run.

It was a year ago when Salzman suffered one of the biggest disappointments in his timber sports career. He was disqualified for stepping on the centerline during a gold medal match against Jamie Fischer. That left him with three silver medals in the 2003 games.

	J.R. Salzman stayed upright just long enough to win his third gold of the Games.

"I've been replaying that in my mind for 365 days," Salzman said. "That's a huge part of my will to win."

Salzman has joined the National Guard and recently completed boot camp at Fort Benning, Ga. Most of his unit has already departed for Kosovo and Afghanistan.

While in boot camp, Salzman didn't tell anyone about his timber sports career. But while going through physical training one morning, one of his drill sergeants walked up behind him and said, "Why did you step on the center line Salzman?"

He knew his secret was out. In fact, Salzman's mother, Bonnie, thinks that might be why J.R. isn't already overseas.

"Most of his unit is in Kosovo," Bonnie said. "I think they wanted him to compete here and represent the Army."

If so, mission accomplished.

Salzman had to battle back from a 2-1 deficit in the best-of-five gold medal match. He beat 2002 gold medalist Darren Hudson of Barrington, Nova Scotia.

"It hurts like a double-edged sword," said Hudson. "I really wanted this. Maybe I tried a little too hard."

Salzman also was down 1-0 in the best-of-three semifinals to Brian Duffy of Hayward, Wis., before battling back to advance.

Many in the packed grandstand were rooting for a rematch of last year's gold medal match between Salzman and Fischer. But that didn't materialize when Hudson eliminated Fischer in the semis after a tremendous recovery from a near fall.

Fischer, who is from Stillwater, Minn., has the most gold medals in Great Outdoors Games history — six. He won three golds in 2003. He salvaged a bronze in the Log Roll Sunday by beating Duffy in three straight matches.

Final Standings - Men's Log Roll

1 Jr Salzman
2 Darren Hudson
3 Jamie Fischer
4 Brian Duffy
5 Dan Mcdonough
5 Fred Scheer
5 John Wells
5 Travis Wells

Results (By Round)

Final Round
JR Salzman (3) def Darren Hudson (2)

Consolation Round
Jamie Fischer (3) def Brian Duffy (0)

Semifinal Round
JR Salzman (2) def Brian Duffy (1)
Darren Hudson (2) def Jamie Fischer (1)

Quarterfinal Round
JR Salzman (2) def Travis Wells (0)
Brian Duffy (2) def Dan McDonough (1)
Jamie Fischer (2) def Fred Scheer (0)
Darren Hudson (2) def John Wells (0)