Mt. Blue wrestling coach Mike Hansen, left, instructs his team during practice on Jan. 30 in Farmington. Seated from left are Preston Garland, Stephen Galkowski, and Roman Galkowski. The Cougars finished third at the Class A state championship last season and should contend this year. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
FARMINGTON -- The wrestling room at Mt. Blue High School sits behind double doors, down a long hallway next to the school's gymnasium. If you didn't know it was there, you could easily confuse it for a supply closet.
But behind those doors, the room is buzzing. It's lined wall to wall with blue wrestling mats. Names of wrestlers from years past adorn yellow signs along the wall. A giant blue spotlight rests in the corner, painted yellow with the names of previous state champions. Male and female grapplers are jumping from drill to drill, absorbing a quick tutorial from third-year coach Mike Hansen before getting to work. Rap music plays loudly in the background.
WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP MEETS
REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday, Feb. 8
CLASS A/B NORTH: Cross Insurance Center, Bangor, 10 a.m.
CLASS A SOUTH: Noble High, North Berwick, 10 a.m.
CLASS B SOUTH: Fryeburg Academy, 10 a.m.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
CLASS A/B: The Colisee, Lewiston, 10 a.m. Feb. 15
GIRLS: Mt. Blue High, Farmington, 10 a.m. Feb. 18
The Cougars are motivated and have every right to be. After finishing third at the Class A championships last year, Mt. Blue has its best chance at capturing the program's first state crown since 1984.
Related 2024-25 wrestling preview: Mt. Blue ready for next step after breakout season
"I've been grateful for the progress the team has done," said sophomore Dillon Gray. "We've come a long way for sure. The first month of the season, we were all kind of lazy. We've been gradually getting better and better and better. Our hard work (stands out). Everyone is here every practice. We're putting in our work. No breaks, we're just working."
"It feels rewarding, to be with all these guys since we were little, to have our hard work pay off," said senior Stephen Galkowski. "Everyone in that room came into a program (four years ago) that was in a bad spot, kind of broken. (Hansen) has been with us since middle school, I've had him (as a coach) since fifth grade, and he's come all the way up through with us. He knows a lot about the sport and has been able to help us in our careers. It's been awesome."
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Indeed, the success of the program starts at the top with Hansen, a standout for Mountain Valley High in the early 2000s. Hansen has worked with most of the team since they were in middle school, so he knew their potential.
"It's always been my hope (the team would be a contender)," Hansen said. "I saw the talent. It's always been about keeping the kids together. You lose a lot of those kids when they're about 13 and they transition (into high school) as a freshman. There's less fun involved (at the high school level) and a lot more work. That was my big, 'What if?' For the most part, the majority of them have shown up the way I expected them to show up. I tell people that I have a turnkey program. I can hand you the keys to this team, and you can drive it away. They know what to do, and they know what's expected of them.
"I'm happy we've been able to have a season the way I thought we would. I knew Camden (Hills) was going to be a real tough team. We're at where I think we belong and we've been performing pretty well. We've had a few days where we're up and down, but we manage to recover and the team is pretty much together, which is nice."
The Cougars are stacked with talent. Gray won a Class A title at 106 pounds as a freshman last year. At the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championships last month, both he and senior Jason Bagley collected their 100th career win. Gray is a contender in a competitive 150-pound class, same for Bagley at 190 pounds. Galkowski (157), junior Preston Garland (106) and sophomore Jace Goodrow (113) have also shown to be state title contenders.
With that much talent in the room, the group keeps each other motivated and on their game with friendly smack talk.
"We'll harp on each other a little bit," Gray said. "It's all jokes, but we're just trying to make each other better at the end of the day."
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"There's trash talking for sure," Galkowski said. "Just nice, friendly competitiveness, although I guess it's hard to stay friendly in a combat sport."
Mt. Blue's potential isn't just at the Class A championships. The Cougars also have a strong girls team, which finished runner-up to Noble for the inaugural girls team championship last season. Much of that same crew returns, led by junior Brooklynn Webber (126 pounds). Junior Abigail Garland (100), junior Logan Smith (107) and freshman Kaydn Hansen (120) round out the squad, which should receive competition again from Noble, as well as Belfast. Mt. Blue hosts the girls state championship on Feb. 18.
"It's really nice, because (over the years), I've seen girls in other states (have state championships), and now Maine is able to develop and have girls (state championships), along with other teams growing like ours," Webber said. "Now we have real competition. At first, Mt. Blue was so far ahead (in girls wrestling). We just had a (recent) practice where we had girls from all around the state, because we want to (help the state grow in girls wrestling), not just us."
Mt. Blue's potential goes beyond this winter. The Cougars have only four seniors, and Hansen, who still runs the district's middle school program, sees talent for the foreseeable future.
"I think we'll be able to continue this," Hansen said. "From what I can see, we've got another five to 10 years of us doing this every year, and continuing the program here."
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