Caleb Pelletier is always striving to become a better wrestler, whether it’s through tips from his dad or uncle or from first-person experiences on the mat.

That quest for grappling growth will take the Foxcroft Academy junior to the nation’s heartland June 21-29 to participate in the 20th Friendship Games wrestling series.

“I definitely want to improve just a little bit if I can, and to see the different level of competition,” said Pelletier, who lives in Charleston.

The Maine-Nebraska Friendship Series is the longest-running exchange of its type between two states. Maine and Nebraska alternate as the host each year, staging four meets at different locations within the state. This year’s meets will be held at four Nebraska sites: Creighton, Hastings, Kearney and Millard South.

Maine will send a star-studded 17-member squad to Nebraska. Fifteen of the 17 are reigning state champions, including nine wrestlers with at least two state titles to their credit.

Joining Pelletier on the 2004 Maine Friendship Series roster are Kyle Bonin and Norman Gilmore of Belfast, Jake Rollins and Chris Remsen of Camden Hills of Rockport, Ben Kinerson of Kennebunk and Blair Academy, David Gregory of Lincoln Academy of Newcastle, Justin Cornell and Derek Guisto of Lisbon, Colby Lamson, Shane Holton and Jon Brooks of Marshwood of Eliot, David Smith of Mountain Valley of Rumford, Jarred Porper and Decota Cotten of Noble of Berwick, Seth McAlister of Oxford Hills of South Paris, and Chris Desrosiers of Winslow.

The Maine contingent will be led by coaches Mark Stevens of Lisbon, Neal Wood of Belfast and longtime former Westbrook High coach Dennis Walch.

Pelletier, a two-time Class C individual state champion who helped Foxcroft win its first-ever team title in February, wrestled in one Friendship Series match last year when the event was held in Maine. One memory of that experience lingers.

“There’s an intensity level there that some of the wrestlers around here don’t have, and it will be a great experience to be around that kind of intensity,” said Pelletier, the reigning Class C state champion at 152 pounds.

Pelletier comes from a family rich in wrestling tradition. His father, Maynard Pelletier, won a state championship while at Fort Kent in 1979 and went on to compete at the University of Maine. He now serves as an assistant coach at Foxcroft Academy.

His uncle, Romey Pelletier, was a former wrestling standout at Fort Kent and the University of Maine-Presque Isle who was an alternate for the U.S. Greco-Roman team that competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

And Caleb’s brother, Foxcroft sophomore Josh Pelletier, is the current Class C state champion at 215 pounds.

Getting into peak wrestling form in time for the Friendship Games may be a bit problematic for Pelletier, who is playing for the Foxcroft Academy baseball team, one of the favorites in Eastern Maine Class B this spring.

“Right now I’m on a weightlifting program every morning before school, and I run three days a week,” said Pelletier.

Members of the Maine Friendship Games squad will get together for a brief training camp in June before leaving for Nebraska, he said.