Timbersports Series competitor Kate Page uses a STIHL MS 661 chainsaw during a stock saw event at a competition in this undated photo. Page is a native of John Day now living in Heppner and is looking for a top-five finish in the 2021 U.S. Championships.

Kate Page is no Paul Bunyan, but the Oregon woman can swing an ax and use a saw with the best of them.

A native of John Day, Page has been competing in lumberjack sports since 2014, and competed in the West Coast qualifier June 6 in Centralia, Washington, ahead of the STIHL Timbersports Series July 23-25 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

“This year was different because of COVID,” Page said. “We have to apply to get into the STIHL series. Normally, the women have three qualifiers and one wild card that qualifies. On paper, they created pools. We compete at our nearest qualifier. There were five at our qualifier.”

With four qualifier competitions throughout the country, Page still is waiting to hear if her time gets her to the U.S. Championships in Arkansas. She should know by the end of the month.

“The anticipation is killing me,” Page said. “I set a personal record in one of my events (single buck, with a cross-cut saw), so that was a positive.”

The first year women were included in the Timbersports Series was 2017, and they went to Cherry Valley, New York. In 2018, the qualifier for the women was in Cherry Valley, and those who advanced competed alongside the men in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Page finished eighth that year.

In 2019, Page finished seventh at the U.S. Championships.

“This year, I want to be in the top five,” Page said.

Page and her husband, Camron Tack, returned to Eastern Oregon in April to be closer to her parents. She works in the Heppner Ranger District on the Umatilla National Forest for the U.S. Forest Service.

“I’m on a fire crew right now,” Page said. “We live at the Tupper Guard Station.”

Tack works construction in Hermiston and is in the U.S. Army Reserve.

The U.S. Championships will be livestreamed on Facebook, and all of the competitions will air on CBS Sports in the fall.