Sibling wrestlers motivated by succeeding, not rivalries

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Brothers, being brothers, are prone to getting on each other’s case about everything from girlfriends to grappling.

For three pair of brothers who share a state championship wrestling pedigree, sibling rivalry may be a normal by-product of their competitive natures but certainly nothing that has hindered their athletic development.

If anything, it’s been to their benefit.

“There’s always the teasing that goes on, like ‘I pinned my guy quicker than you,’ but seriously, I wouldn’t say there’s any competition between us at all,” said Caleb Pelletier of Charleston, who along with younger brother Josh wrestles at Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft.

“But whether it’s at practice or in a match, we try to push each other, and it’s always good to know there’s someone else out there doing the same things.”

For the Pelletiers, Norman and Tony Gilmore of Belfast High, and Chris and Jeremiah Barkac of Dexter High, wrestling is a brotherhood in the truest sense, athleticism combined with acumen combined with adrenaline – leading to 10 individual state titles.

That they share the competitiveness inherent in having another champion in the family hasn’t hurt, either.

“Jeremiah probably feeds off Chris,” said Dexter coach David Gudroe. “The younger brother always wants to be better than the older brother, and I think with them Chris wouldn’t have a problem with it if it happened that way.”

Dexter’s mat-meticians

Wrestling has been virtually a lifelong pursuit for Chris and Jeremiah Barkac.

They took up the sport as second-graders in their native Pennsylvania, following their father Mike, who was a standout wrestler at California State University.

The family moved to the central Maine town of Parkman when the brothers were of junior-high age, and since then their high school careers at Dexter have bordered on perfection.

Chris has a career record of 111-1, with three state championships in three different weight classes. He won the 130-pound Class C title as a freshman, the 119-pound title as a sophomore and the 125-pound crown last February.

Jeremiah, a sophomore, has yet to lose to a Maine wrestler, having gone 32-0 last winter while winning the Class C state championship at 103 pounds.

“We’re not really that different,” said Chris, who is back at 130 pounds this winter. “We both just try to use really good moves.”

“We pretty much wrestle the same way,” said Jeremiah, who earned All-America status in freestyle wrestling at the ASICS/Vaughan Cadet and Junior Wrestling Championships at Fargo, N.D., last summer. “We both basically rely on technique and quickness.”

Not surprisingly, Gudroe sees similarities in the Barkacs’ wrestling makeup.

“Physically they’re a little different,” he said. “Chris has a long body and long arms while Jeremiah is a little shorter, but both are strong. Chris is strong, and Jeremiah is strong for his size.

“They’re aggressive, very in-your-face. They keep right after you, and I think that’s what makes them so good.”

Their weight difference means the Barkacs don’t wrestle each other a lot, but they do work out together.

That’s true even during the summer, in a wrestling room the family built upstairs in their barn at home.

“The barn was already there, and my freshman year we got the old Dexter mats and put them up,” said Chris. “We work out a lot there during the summer. Our dad comes out and goes over our moves with us.”

Both are favored to retain their championships Feb. 12 at the state meet in Augusta. But that hasn’t stopped either brother from working to improve his technique.

“Chris and Jeremiah always have been good in the neutral [standing] position,” Gudroe said. “Their pins are something we’ve worked on. In the past they’ve been put-you-down and let-you-back-up wrestlers to get the points, but we’ve been stressing getting pins, particularly in the big tournaments.”

Given their individual successes, it’s no surprise they draw upon each other for wrestling pointers – and motivation.

“I’ve learned a lot from Chris, all kinds of different moves, different setups,” said Jeremiah. “We go to camps during the summer, and he brings stuff home, and I bring stuff home.

“In matches I try to watch him pretty closely,” Jeremiah said. “Watching about everyone else on the team gets me motivated.”

The Lions of winter

Norman and Tony Gilmore may wrestle just five pounds apart, but how they emerged among the best Class B wrestlers in the state has involved two distinctly different routes.

“Norman until this year really relied on his explosive speed and strength,” said Belfast coach Neal Wood. “Tony is a complete technician. He’s always watching film and working to learn new techniques.

“Norman has that reserve, so that when he gets into a tight spot, he just explodes. With Tony, he usually wrestles so he doesn’t get in those situations. He’s very mat-wise.”

There’s also a difference in mental approach.

“I’m pretty laid back, and Norman likes to get the adrenaline going,” said Tony Gilmore. “I don’t wrestle well that way, but Norman wrestles well when he gets himself pumped up.”

Both routes have been successful. Norman, a senior now wrestling at 130 pounds, is a two-time Class B state champion, including last year when he won the 125-pound title.

Tony, a junior now at 125 pounds, won the 112-pound state title as a freshman and placed second at 119 last February.

Both are very aware of what each other does on the mat, in part because they wrestle just moments apart – once Tony’s match ends, Norman’s begins.

“A lot of times I’ll watch his matches to get ready for mine,” Norman said, “because it really helps to watch him and see what he’s doing.”

The brothers really haven’t wrestled each other much since first taking up the sport in junior high.

Tony Gilmore has been more likely to practice against teammate Kyle Bonin, the defending state champ at 112 who like Norman Gilmore has more than 100 career victories.

But they have practiced together more this season, applying each other’s strengths to their own wrestling repertoires.

“We were more different until this year,” said Norman. “I’ve started to pick up more of what Tony’s style is. I’ve gotten a lot better on my feet, which has always been one of Tony’s strengths.”

So Tony has helped Norman, and Norman has helped Tony – all to the detriment of their opponents.

“After Tony lost to Jake Berry [of Camden Hills] earlier in the year, he wanted to work with me to get better at wrestling on the mat,” Norman said.

“I’ve always been better on my feet,” added Tony. “Norman’s always been stronger on the mat.”

A family tradition

Caleb and Josh Pelletier are the latest generation of a family with Saint John Valley roots that is steeped in wrestling tradition.

Their dad, Maynard Pelletier, was a state champion while at Fort Kent High in 1979 who went on to wrestle at the University of Maine.

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

Yet despite that heritage, for Caleb and Josh the sport has been more of an acquired taste than a rite of passage.

“Wrestling isn’t something they’ve been doing all their life,” said Foxcroft coach Luis Ayala. “Maynard grew up wrestling, but it’s something he didn’t want to force on his kids, so they played a lot of different sports. But by the seventh and eighth grade, they got involved in the youth program, and they took off with wrestling from there.”

To this day, wrestling isn’t either’s favorite sport – that honor goes to baseball. Caleb also plays soccer, while Josh plays football in the fall.

“Our parents always made sure we were involved in a variety of things,” said Caleb, a senior with more than 100 wins and a two-time state champion now wrestling at 152. “Playing different sports keeps me in shape and keeps me from getting lazy.

“My dad and uncles tell stories about wrestling all the time, and it motivates us, but we just picked up wrestling on our own.”

Josh Pelletier, a junior, won an individual state championship at 215 pounds in helping Foxcroft to its first Class C state team title last season. But the fact the brothers are separated by 60 pounds means they don’t pursue their craft on the mat in exactly the same way.

“I think I’m more an upper-body guy,” Josh said. “Caleb likes to shoot more, because he’s definitely a lot quicker than I am. Caleb is extremely intense when he wrestles, and no matter who he’s wrestling, he doesn’t give anyone any slack. He’s 100 percent all the time.”

“There is quite a bit of difference as far as style because Josh weighs so much more than me, so he uses a lot of bigger-guy moves,” Caleb added. “But as far as training and working hard, we’re about the same. We both try and put forth the effort.”

That effort is motivated by a number of factors, among them the quest for their own success and each other’s pursuit of excellence.

“You can see the sibling rivalry,” Ayala said. “Caleb won a state championship his sophomore year, and you could see that Josh felt a lot of pressure his sophomore year. He put the pressure on himself, and then he went out and did it.

“This year, you really don’t see that pressure at all.”