Early in the season, head wrestling coach Joe Pistone commented that one of the toughest parts of his sport is that athletes train for 20 to 40 hours for each seven-minute match.
On Friday, after two weeks of training, six hours on planes and four days in Iowa, sophomore Mike Morin (Fryeburg) had just 14 minutes on the mat before he was eliminated from the tournament in a heartbreaking final match.
Morin opened against sophomore Trent Zempel from Messiah College, who Pistone thought was a good draw for him.
He dropped a 4-2 decision to Zempel, who came into the tournament with a 33-8 record. Morin entered 30-6.
On the knife’s edge, Morin took to the mats again versus senior Zac Bogardus from SUNY Cortland-and lost, 6-7, ending his season.
Neither of his opponents continued much farther in the 165 pound division, which was won by Tyler Burke of Coe College, the number two seed who was lucky enough to compete on his home turf.
Morin was the third wrestler in USM history to wrestle in the NCAA tournament, and finished his season 30-8 overall.