He can really tie on the feedbag

Fair warning: You're either going to be really hungry after reading this story, or you're going to lose your appetite.

Delano lad Eric "Silo" Dahl currently is ranked the nation's top student eater by the National Collegiate Competitive Eating Association. He has, for lack of a better term, burst upon the scene, racking up victory after victory since discovering what we'll call a knack for eating immense amounts of food in minutes.

Dahl, 20, contends that competitive eating is a sport not only of physical prowess, but also of mental toughness. In any case, it draws a crowd, such as the 30,000 at the Famous Nathan's hot dog-eating contest July 4 on New York City's Coney Island, where eating legend Joey Chestnut ate 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes to earn $10,000.

"Some say it's like a car accident," Dahl said. "You don't really want to look, but you can't look away."

At 6 feet 3 and 220 pounds, Dahl calls to mind a young Joe Mauer (sorry, Joe) with his dark good looks, long sideburns, sweet demeanor and ability to sling statistics. Such as:

• The Burnsville Rack Shack BBQ's Hobo Challenge: Eating within one hour three 2-pound Hobos -- a large baked potato covered with mac'n'cheese, beans, creamed corn, a choice of turkey, pulled pork or brisket, topped with coleslaw.

No contender had ever succeeded. Dahl ate all 6 pounds of food in 5 minutes and 23 seconds.

• Minneapolis' Depot Tavern's Diamond Dog Contest: Within 10 minutes, Dahl ate 10 of the quarter-pound, bacon-wrapped, deep-fried, all-beef hot dogs on pretzel buns.

The story behind Dahl's nickname involves a 13-egg omelet with veggies, cheese, a pound of breakfast meats, hash browns and three pieces of toast, served at Bev's Cafe in Red Wing. He'd just polished it off in 9:09 to the amazement of all the other diners, but one.

"This lady at the next table, she said, 'Well, yeah, but look at his body structure. He's like a silo,'" Dahl said. "I'd been looking for a nickname, and that was it."

Always, a big bowl of cereal

Dahl doesn't look all that imposing. He has an athlete's build from playing softball, biking and lifting weights, and he tracks every calorie and gram of protein he eats because he's dedicated to physical fitness and to living a healthy lifestyle. Yup, that's what he said.

He's always had a big appetite. "I always got double lunches in school." He trains by eating a single meal a day, something he began doing in college before competitive eating ever dawned on him. He consumes about 3,000 calories and 220 grams of protein, which usually involves frying a pound of ground beef for several hamburgers, making some "orange chicken" with noodles, and an omelet with vegetables. Maybe some chili. He always finishes with a big bowl of cereal or a pan-sized pancake (his all-time favorite food).

He actually has lost 10 pounds since November.

Dahl says his bloodwork checks out normal. He knows that naysayers contend that repeated, intense stretching of a stomach to its limit might result in gastroparesis, which affects its ability to contract. But there hasn't been much research into competitive eating.

That may change as its popularity increases. The irony is that many champion eaters look quite fit. In fact, the top female eater, Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, is 5 feet 5 and weighs 100 pounds.

Dahl says that would-be gorgers should be 16 years old before trying it, "and never do it alone." Even he feels better when a contest has emergency personnel on hand in case someone chokes.

"That's a conversation where people weigh in left and right," he said, laughing. "But it's a competition, it's a fight for first place, there's practicing, there's mentality -- it meets the definition of a sport."

That said, "a lot of people think competitive eating is gross, and it can be, absolutely," Greenwald added. "But it's certainly a heckuva lot less dangerous than other college sports out there. Look at football, where kids are getting concussion-grade hits."

Greenwald -- himself fresh from a cupcake-eating win with nine downed in 2 minutes -- calls Dahl "a dynamite kid with a great head on his shoulders and the stomach capacity to eat a lot. The kid can eat."

Ready, set, gurgitate!

Dahl is to compete Saturday in the first American Pie Pizza Eating Contest against other gurgitators, as competitive eaters are known. This is one of the more lucrative contests locally, with $1,300 on the line. (Dahl's prize for the Rack Shack's Hobo Challenge was a $100 gift certificate and a T-shirt that said "Nice Rack.")

Apparently, one of the perils of competitive eating is "flavor fatigue," where you get so tired of what you're eating that you want to stop. "When you're thinking about the taste, you're going too slow," he said.

He records his contests and has about 15 videos on YouTube. (strib.mn/raCi3V.)

Dahl said his family is supportive, adding the adjectives "generally" and "pretty" around that characterization. "My dad was on the edge about it, but he looked at how bad I want to do well," he said.

He already has a burger named after him, the Dahlburger at Duluth's Big Daddy's Burgers: a 2-pound burger with onions, two kinds of cheese, a slice of ham and several slices of bacon, along with 1 1/2 pounds of fries.

He graduated from Rochester Community and Technical College and heads off this fall for the University of Wisconsin in Madison, home of the 3-pound Cheese Steak-eating challenge. He would like to win the NCCEA's national title, "and then probably get up on the stage of Coney Island."