MISSOULA, MT. — There is no doubt who is the King after the semi-final round in the ESPN Super Retriever Series. Elvis, handled by Jack Jagoda, has jumped out in front, while there was a whole lot of shaking going on in the rest of the ranks.

While Elvis rocked and rolled through the field, Windy, the leader going into the semi-final round, checked into the Heart Break Hotel by bombing on her final run and winding up in eighth place.

The finals begin Sunday with the top six dogs vying for an invitation to the 2003 ESPN Great Outdoor Games.

	Super Retriever Series Final Six
	Team — Hometown — Points Jack Jagoda/Elvis, Goldvein, Va., 24 Eric Fangsrud/Ritz, Ronan, Mt., 26 Jeff Smith/Nitro, Missoula, Mt., 28 Armand Fangsrud/Ninja, Missoula, Mt., 30 Alan Catey/Boon, Missoula, Mt., 31 John Terrisono/Titan, Billings, Mt., 32

Elvis finished the day with 24 points, while Ritz, handled by Eric Fangsrud, was second with 26 points, and Nitro, handled by Jeff Smith, was third with 28 points. The remaining three retriever/handler teams in the order they finished were Ninja and Armand Fangsrud (30); Boon and Alan Catey (31) and Titan and John Terrisono (32).

While Elvis lead the field, he didn't do it without accompaniment.

"The reason Elvis is in the lead is Jack Jagoda performed better than any of the other handlers," said Lyles Rudder, judge of the event. "Jack is the one who got his dog to the finals. He made Elvis go where we wanted him to go."

Jagoda's ability to control the variables played perfectly for a test that the judges described as a "pure control test."

The 12 retrievers in the semi-final test were required to make four retrieves — two marks and two blind retrieves. It was basically a simple task, but one mark and both blinds required the dog to take straight lines without avoiding any obstacles.

That is not so easy in the rolling hills of the Western Montana Retriever Club grounds. The area nestled in between the Rocky Mountains and Bitterroot Mountains is rolling mogul-like hills, covered in heavy vegetation and pockmarked with small ponds of water.

In order for a dog to take a straight line it often had to push through water, enter a pond, hit land again, then hit water again before reaching the land where the retrieving dummy fell.

"The natural instinct for a dog is to run around those obstacles," Rudder said. "But their training should tell them to take a straight line. This was test about once that retriever left the line who could control their dog at a distance."

For the most part the 12 semi-finalists fared well with three-quarters of the test. The final leg, though, a 250-yard blind retrieve through 100 yards of moguls and brush and 150 yards of water, proved to the be the death of many of the dogs, most notably Windy, handled by Larry Calvert.

Windy had breezed through the field on Friday, with an almost flawless round. And going into the final retrieve with only four points, it looked as if she might do the same again. But the obstacles proved too much for her, as she and Calvert racked up 109 points on that one retrieve.

"I'm dumbfounded," Calvert said. "Hindsight is great, but I don't know what I would have done different."

Rudder and judge Herb Bittner said the key to the retrieve was pushing the retriever to the right point on dry ground so the dog would be lined up once it hit the water.

"If you got outside of that key area, then there were a lot of obstacles and distractions that can throw a dog off," Rudder said.

One of those obstacles was a floating log well to the right of the retrieving dummy. Many of the dogs mistook it for the mark, and once they were in the water headed straight to it.

"Once they do that, then it can be too late," Rudder said. "I don't know if the splashing water keeps them from hearing the whistle or they are just too keyed in on that object."

Whatever distraction it was, it played havoc on Windy. Calvert could never call her off, once she started for the log.

"I knew when I blew that third whistle we were in trouble," Calvert said. "If I could have guessed, I would have bet once she was in the water, one more whistle was all it would have taken to get her back on line. It catches you off guard."

Jagoda on the other hand never let Elvis get in a touchy situation. The 24 points he racked up were all whistles that took place close to the line, each one of them intended to get Elvis on the right track early and keep him there.

"By doing that he controlled the actions of Elvis from start to finish," Rudder said. "It was masterful."

Whether or not he can do it again will be the big question. The six finalists will be required to complete another "control test" in the finals.

"But this one will be bigger," Bittner said.

The test will include three marks that combined cover more than 800 yards and a blind retrieve of 250 yards with even more distractions than in the semi-final round. In each one of the marks, the retriever/handler teams will be judged on their ability to travel in straight lines that will take them in and out of water twice and over mounds of land.

The finals of the Super Retriever Series get underway at 8 a.m. MST on Sunday. A Big Air qualifier for the Great Outdoor Games will follow.