Cony High School wrestling coach Shawn Totman recently reached his 200th career dual meet win in a Dec. 16 match against Winslow, according to Cony athletic director Paul Vachon.

“His consistent effort, upbeat mood and the confidence he provides to each and every wrestler makes all of his teams’ visions come alive,” Vachon said of Totman. “He really cares about his wrestlers on and off the mat.”

Totman, who teaches social studies at Cony, is in his 10th season at the helm for the Rams. His teams have won 20 or more dual meets in a season seven times.

“Getting to 200 wins is a nice milestone to achieve and what it really makes me think about is how fortunate I have been to have such great kids involved in the Cony program over the last 10 years,” said Totman. “This is a credit to all of those wrestlers who have worn the red and white and practiced and competed so hard for our team.”

Totman is also quick to give credit to his long-time assistant coach, Jeremy Mahns.

“He is fantastic in the workout room with our guys and is a huge reason so many of them improve so much during their time wrestling for us,” Totman said. “We wouldn’t be where we are as a program without Coach Mahns.”

T.J. Vallee, who was a 2010 state champion and New England place-winner while wrestling for Cony, remembers Totman as a coach who established an excellent rapport with his athletes.

“He had a knack for making everyone feel comfortable while still pushing them to succeed,” said Vallee. “I owe a lot of my high school and collegiate wrestling success to the fundamentals that Coach Totman instilled in me at Cony.”

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Gardiner native and current University of Southern Maine wrestler, Daniel Del Gallo, enters the college holiday break ranked sixth nationally in Division III at 149 pounds by the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA). Del Gallo started the season strong with a fourth-place finish at the East Stroudsburg University Open, a tournament comprised of mainly Division I competition.

An ankle injury sustained at the Doug Parker Invitational at Springfield College set the junior back for awhile, but Del Gallo rebounded by winning his weight class at the Huskies’ Ted Reese Invitational. Del Gallo carries a 16-3 record into the Christmas break, according to USM coach Mike Morin.

“Dan gives his best effort every time he steps on the mat and is always striving to be the absolute best wrestler he can be,” said Morin. “He leads by example and is a great team leader on and off the mat. He is a hard worker both on the mat and in the classroom.”

Del Gallo is also a standout in the classroom. He won The Elite 89 award at last season’s Division III National Championships. The award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the national finals for each of the NCAA’s championships.

Del Gallo and the Huskies return to the mat on Jan. 6 at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire.

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Two tournaments highlight Christmas vacation for many local wrestling teams. Skowhegan, Nokomis, Gardiner and Winslow travel to North Berwick for the 26-team Noble Invitational. The two day event begins on Tuesday. Skowhegan’s Cody Craig, Julian Sirois and Kameron Doucette return to defend individual titles earned last season.

Nokomis finished eighth last season and return place-winners Jacob Booth (second), Christopher Wilson (fourth) and Hunter Glidden (fourth). Nokomis coach Scott Preble likes the high-caliber competition at the tournament.

“Nokomis is not noted to be very good at dual meets, but when our team is healthy and everyone shows up to wrestle, I feel our team can be very strong in tournaments,” said Preble. “Our goal going into any tournament is always to win, but I also use this tournament to gauge where our team is at in the season so we can improve on what is necessary to compete at regionals and states.”

Mount View High School hosts the 13-team Mid Maine Tournament on Monday. The event rotates annually between Mount View and Maine Central Institute. Local teams in attendance also include Cony, Erskine and Madison.

“The tournament was originally designed to give a decent mixture of Class A, B and C teams that don’t normally face each other outside of a large tournament,” said Mount View coach Hamilton Richards. “Now that the classes have been re-aligned (into just Class A and B) we no longer have the Class C aspect, but seeding becomes a greater consideration for regional tournaments.”

Richards pointed out that Dexter, Madison and Bucksport are three former Class C teams which will be in attendance that are now in Class B. Erskine’s Justin Studholme returns as an individual defending champion.

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