ANNOUONCEMENTS


Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Overview of the USM Wrestling Program: 1997 to 2014

By Joe Pistone, USM Head Wrestling Coach

In the spirit of our 1000th "Like", here is a little overview of the USM Wrestling Program. We have had so many champions, academic award winners, amazing team and individual wins over the course of the past 17 years but here are a few milestones that I have thought about. As you will see below, there is a lot to celebrate!

Please excuse me if I am missing something to note, definitely contact me asap and I will add it to our "milestone" list. 

In the meantime, our 2014-15 USM Wrestling Team is fired up and ready to go! We have some outstanding incoming freshman, some starving for "NCAA All America" honors returners and a "1006 friends" paying attention and holding us accountable; this ALL matters! Enjoy and stay tuned for more updates! 
Have a really great weekend and thank you for supporting the University of Southern Maine Wrestling program and our student athletes; we are determined to continue this trend of excellence.


Coach Pistone- USM's Head Wrestling Coach

1997-present 

1996: Ted Reese founded the USM Wrestling Program, starts out as a club sport at USM

1997: USM Wrestling officially becomes an NCAA Division III sanctioned sport

1999: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships for the first time with MAWA HOF member Adam Farrington advancing to the NCAA National Championships at 174lbs

2001: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its first NCAA New England Champion and MOW, Adam Farrington at 174

2002 USM Captain Tim Morris captures the University Greco Roman National Championship title; finishes as a National Runner up in Freestyle 2 days later!

2003: USM's Ted Reese steps down, Joe Pistone takes over as USM's second Head Coach 

2003 Longtime USM Assistant Wrestling Coach, Bryan Brunk accepts the Head Wrestling Coach position at Messiah College (PA)

2006: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its 2nd NCAA New England Champion, Stephen Valastro at 133lbs

2008: USM hosts the NCAA New England Wrestling Championships, the 2nd time in history an NCAA National Championship Qualifier is hosted in Maine.

2008: Former USM Head Coach Ted Reese and former Head Assistant Coach, Bryan Brunk (current Messiah College Head Wrestling Coach) are inducted to the NCAA Division III New England Wrestling Hall of Fame before the Championship finals at USM

2008: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its 3rd NCAA New England Champion, Mike Morin at 165lbs; Morin wins an overtime match in a best-of-three match against Springfield College in the final match of the NCAA New England Tournament at home!

2009 Former USM Assistant Coach, Jason York, becomes the Head Wrestling Coach at Bridgewater State University (MA)

2009 Former USM Assistant Coach Mike Brown wins the WEC World Featherweight title, defeating Urijah Faber by unanimous decision

2009: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships in Iowa, crowning its 4th NCAA New England Champion, Mike Morin at 165lbs

2009: USM's NCAA All New England Wrestlers Doug Christensen and Mike Morin earn NCAA Scholar First team All America honors

2009: Mike Morin becomes USM's first NCAA Wrestling All American, finishing 4th at the NCAA National Tournament; this is the first time a Maine collegiate wrestler earns NCAA All America honors.

2009: Mike Morin becomes the #1 ranked Wrestler in the Nation at 165lbs

2009: USM earns an invite to the prestigious 'Desert Duals' and competes at the Flamingo Ballroom and Casino in Las Vegas, NV; USM knocks off #20 in NCAA DII Grand Canyon University

2010: USM’s Mike Morin is ranked #1 in the United States at 165lbs, the first USM Husky ever to accomplish this.

2010: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its 5th NCAA New England Champion, Mike Morin at 165lbs

2010: USM Head Coach, Coach Pistone is voted in as the NCAA New England Wrestling Association Vice President; there are (15) Universities in the NEWA 

2010 USM's 3x NCAA All New England Wrestlers Doug Christensen and Mike Morin earn NCAA Scholar First team All America honors

2010: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its 6th NCAA New England Champion, Matt Ulrich at 141lbs

2010: USM advances to the NCAA Final Four in Matt Ulrich at 141. Ulrich defeats 2x NCAA finalist, 3x NCAA All American Jafari Vanier from Augsburg (MN) to become USM's second NCAA All American finishing 6th at the NCAA National Wresting Championships

2010: Mike Morin becomes USM's third NCAA Wrestling All American, finishing 5th at the NCAA National Wrestling Championships.

2010: Mike Morin earns NCAA Division III Pilgrim League Wrestler of the Year

2010: USM Head Assistant Coach, Julio Santiago earns NCAA New England Division III Assistant Wrestling Coach of the Year. A week later he is within the top 4 nominated for NCAA National Asst. Coach of the Year

2011: USM competes at the Gulf Coast Dual Meet Championships, finishing with a 3-1 record defeating Buena Vista University (Iowa) Central University (Iowa) and Concordia University (Wisconsin)

2011: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its 7th NCAA New England Champion, Billy Cole at 133lbs

2011: USM's Billy Cole becomes an NCAA Division III First Team Scholar All American

2011-12: The USM Wrestling team sets a new school record for dual meet wins with 15

2012: USM's Cinjin Goewey becomes an NCAA Division III First Team Scholar All American

2012 USM's Billy Cole becomes an NCAA Division III First Team Scholar All American

2012: USM Head Coach, Coach Pistone, is elevated as the NCAA New England Wrestling Association President

2012: USM's Rick Chipman becomes an NCAA Division III First Team Scholar All American, the oldest in the history of NCAA Wrestling, ALL DIVISIONS!

2012-13: National powerhouse New York teams Ithaca College, Oneonta State University, Oswego State University and SUNY Cortland join the New England Conference, making it an 18 team NCAA Northeast Regional. Top (3) in each weight class earn NCAA bids

2013; USM Captains Sean Fagan and Jon Deupree become the first ever NCAA Division III Northeast Region Place finishers; Fagan becomes an NCAA National Championship’s Alternate

2014 USM wins its first team tournament title, capturing the North Atlantic Wrestling Championships

2014: USM's Rick Chipman makes the back page in the worlds most circulated newspaper, the Wall Street Journal; see the online article 
here: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304585004579417181893723584

2014: USM makes the NCAA National Wrestling Championships, crowning its first NCAA Division III Regional Champion, Jon Deupree; Deupree earns the Most Outstanding Wrestler Award of the NCAA Regional Championships pinning his NCAA All American foe in the final.

2014 USM Freshman, Carl “CJ” Luth earns NCAA Scholar All America honors

2014 USM Freshman Daniel Del Gallo earns NCAA Scholar All America honors; records a perfect 4.0 both Fall and Spring semesters at USM

2014 NCAA National Championships Qualifier/NCAA Region Champion Jon Deupree becomes a member of NCAA Division III/United States All Star Team and travels/competes in France, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, finishing with a 5-1 record! 

2014 USM Wrestling program founder and USM’s first Head Wrestling Coach, Ted Reese, earns the prestigious “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Maine Amateur Wrestling Association

2014 Former USM Team Captain and 2012 NCAA Scholar All American Rick Chipman earns USM’s Highest Academic/Athletic honor, the “William B. Wise Award”, for the 4th consecutive year. No other USM Husky Wrestler has achieved this honor.

December 2014 USM competes in the prestigious,”Grapple at the Garden” at Madison Square Garden, the WORLD’S most famous arena. This meet features some of the most storied Division I, II and III programs in America!

2015 USM competes in the nationally recognized Wabash College duals competing against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (WI), Mt. St. Joseph College (OH), Wabash College (IN), Thiel University (PA) and Ohio Northern University (OH).