BELFAST – Travis Spencer has dominated his competition through three years of high school wrestling in Maine.

Now he’s getting it done on a national level – and is an All-American to prove it.

Spencer, a three-time state champion from Belfast Area High School, placed sixth in the junior 189-pound weight class over the weekend at the 19th annual National High School Wrestling Championships held at Virginia Beach, Va.

Spencer went 4-3 in his matches against the top junior-class wrestlers in the nation to earn All-America status, which goes to the top six finishers in each weight division from each scholastic class.

“When I went down there my sophomore year, I was one match short of placing,” said Spencer, who helped Belfast win the 2008 Class B team state championship in February before finishing third in his weight class at the New England championships.

“As I was going down there, I didn’t think I was going to place.”

But Spencer won his first two matches, a 14-0 major decision over Ohio’s Mike Lanigan and a 4-3 decision over two-time Maryland state champion Daniel Miller, before dropping an 8-2 decision to Ohio state champion Andrew Tumlin.

Spencer rallied through the consolation bracket to defeat Floridian Charles Fox 15-0 and Joey Piro of Pennsylvania by pin in 1 minute, 23 seconds. He then was edged by Pennsylvanian Zachary Benzio 9-6 before losing to Tumlin 4-2 in the fifth-place match.

Spencer became the second Belfast wrestler in as many years to attain All-America status. Kote Aldus, this year’s New England champion at 160 pounds, placed fourth in the national freshman championships last spring.

Spencer, who finished his junior season with a 49-2 record after an undefeated sophomore year, credited Belfast assistant coach Mike Cummings for encouraging him and several of his teammates to continue to work out in the school’s wrestling room during the offseason to prepare for the nationals.

Spencer was one of several Belfast wrestlers to compete during the three-day meet at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, which hosted more than 2,100 competitors in separate freshman, sophomore, junior and senior divisions.

Aldus, Josh Robbins, Mike Rolerson, Zach Shellabarger and Kornealius Wood also represented the Lions as part of a sizeable Maine contingent that also included New England 103-pound champion Carlin Dubay of Caribou, Jon Pelletier of Bucksport, P.J. Richards of Hermon and Brandon Wright of Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield.

Another Maine wrestler, two-time state champion Nate Lavallee of Cape Elizabeth, joined Spencer as an All-American with a fourth-place finish in the junior 285-pound class.

This meet is held in conjunction with the National High School Coaches Association wrestling convention, and the chance to be seen by college recruiters is an additional reason for making the trip south, Spencer said.

“As we’re getting older, some of us are starting to look toward going to college to wrestle,” said Spencer, who also competes in football and outdoor track and field at Belfast. “There are a lot of college coaches at this meet.”

The National High School Seniors Wrestling Championships is open to any high school senior wrestler who has been a finalist in his high school state tournament or the National Prep Championships. The national junior, sophomore and freshman championships are open events, with any wrestler eligible to enter at his grade level.

“The National High School Wrestling Championships have become the nation’s outstanding high school event in any sport and the response from our member wrestling coaches has been truly gratifying,” NHSCA associate executive director Bob Ferraro Jr. said. “This event brings together the nation’s outstanding high school seniors and gives the nation’s college coaches the opportunity to meet and to connect in a professional setting surrounded by top-notch national competition.”

Murphy eager to join Black Bears

Belfast senior Yates Murphy will have the chance to play out a personal goal beginning this fall when he plays Division I soccer at the University of Maine.

One of 10 players recruited by Maine coach Pat Laughlin for the coming season, Murphy also hopes to play a role in the rebirth of a struggling program.

“It’s a great opportunity, I’m really looking forward to it,” said Murphy, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound back. “The program hasn’t been great the last couple of years, but it’s definitely on the rise and I’d like to contribute to its success.”

Murphy has been a two-year captain of the Belfast soccer team, which finished 4-9-1 in Eastern Maine Class B last fall.

But more of his exposure came from his club soccer experience with the Blackbear United Football Club, an eastern Maine-based program for which Murphy has played since the sixth grade.

Murphy played center midfield in high school but has placed center back for the last several years with Blackbear United, a Hampden-based organization that has a University of Maine connection through its coaching staff that includes former Maine coaches M.J. Ball and Travers Evans as well as Laughlin.

The club soccer season, which encompasses the spring and early summer, provides a greater opportunity for college coaches to scout high school players, given that the high school and college seasons overlap.

“In high school, the college coaches don’t get to look much at players,” said the athletic Murphy, who also played basketball at Belfast. “Playing at the state level and the premier level helps get you exposure to other coaches.”

The 18-year-old son of John and Diane Murphy, who also considered attending Division II power Franklin Pierce College of Rindge, N.H., gained additional exposure to the Maine program by attending the university’s residential soccer camp for the last three summers.

“I started talking with coach Laughlin this past year after soccer season ended,” said Murphy, who won’t be on an athletic scholarship at the outset of his college career. “He said he had interest in me then because he had been watching me grow as a player.”

Maine went 3-13-1 last fall in Laughlin’s first year as the head coach, that coming after a winless season in 2006.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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