Wrestling hall inducting four> Marriner, Pelletier, Lancaster, McPhee to be honored May 20

The ranks of the Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance’s Hall of Fame will swell by four this month as two athletes, one coach, and a contributor to the sport will soon join the previous 20 inductees.

Standout Belfast wrestler Kevin Marriner, Fort Kent native and all-Army wrestling team member Romey Pelletier, Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference coaching luminary Keith Lancaster, and Rumford native Bob McPhee, a longtime writer for the Lewiston Sun, will be enshrined in a ceremony May 20 at Hyde School in Bath.

In addition, the winner of the first John Caramihalis Wrestler of the Year Award, which carries with it a $1,000 college scholarship, will be selected from three graduating senior finalists: Mt. Blue of Farmington’s Carl Swihart, Marshwood of Eliot’s Daryl Buttrick, and Mountain Valley of Rumford’s Jesse Peterson.

Marriner was one of the most dominant wrestlers in the state, compiling a 100-5 record with three state heavyweight titles from 1985 to 1988. The Belfast native went on to place fifth nationally in Cadet freestyle championships and was a two-time East Regional champ in freestyle. Marriner won 110 matches at Central Connecticut State University, earned three trips to the NCAA championships, and won a New England title as a freshman and two East Coast Wrestling Assocation championships.

Pelletier enjoyed a stellar career with the Army as he won a gold medal in Greco style at the Interservice Championships in 1984 and a first-place finish at the Olympic Trials in Minneapolis, Minn. The lieutenant colonel also was an Olympic Games alternate on the Greco team in 1984. Pelletier is still an active coach at the Cadet and Junior level in San Antonio, Texas.

Dexter’s Lancaster founded wrestling programs at Skowhegan and Oxford Hills which accounted for two state championships (Oxford Hills in 1987 and 1989) and five conference titles (1986, 87, 88, 89 and 90). He was named KVAC Coach of the Year twice and Maine State Coach of the Year once (1987). He coached several individual state champions and one New England titlist (Skowhegan’s Steve Sabine).

After earning a journalism degree from the University of Maine, McPhee started covering sports for the Sun in 1987. McPhee, who writes weekly wrestling columns and top 10 rankings for the Sun, is a contributing writer for Scholastic Wrestling Magazine, which named him editor of the year in 1996.

Among the wrestler of the year finalists: Swihart is a two-time state champ with a 101-25 career record who went 33-0 this season; Buttrick is a three-time state champ, four-time state finalist who went 41-0 en route to a career mark of 154-12; and two-time state finalist Peterson was the 189-pound state champion after going 42-2 (both losses were out of state) this year and 129-17 in his career.

The MAWA Hall of Fame annually selects inductees from three categories: players, coaches, and officials or contributors.

“We’ve been around since 1993 and we try to keep the annual class of inductees fairly small, but it all depends on the quality of the candidates,” said MAWA publicist Terry Devereaux.

Tickets for the general public are available for $12.50 and may be purchased from MAWA president Dennis Bishop by calling 443-3952.