Jake Craig is back in the nationals, and this time he’s hoping to make a little noise.

Craig, a Skowhegan graduate and sophomore wrestler at the University of Southern Maine, will compete in the 125-pound class at the Division III national championships this weekend in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Craig qualified for nationals by placing third in his weight class at the Northeast Regional Championship earlier this month in Worcester, Massachusetts.

“It feels pretty good (to be back at nationals),” Craig said. “I’m more focused on just the work that needs to get done. I was happy for a couple days, but now it’s just back on working on my next goal, which is competing and being successful at nationals.”

“It’s hard to get to the NCAA tournament,” added USM head coach Mike Morin. “Year in and year out, 50 percent of the teams get guys in, about 50 percent of the teams don’t. It’s an accomplishment in itself, so we’re proud of both (Craig and Frost) and excited for the tournament (this) weekend.”

USM junior Colby Frost, a Bonny Eagle High graduate, qualified for nationals in the 149-pound class.

Craig is 29-6 for the Huskies this season. He’s also building off a successful freshman season, in which he finished third at the national championships. Craig was named a Division III All-American and was tabbed New England Wrestling Association Rookie of the Year. This was all done while battling through a shoulder injury.

After last season, Craig and his coaches discussed goals for this year, including a return trip to nationals.

“The first thing they told me was it wasn’t going to get easier, it’s only going to get harder,” Craig said. “Especially now that people know me and they know my style, they know my wrestling style. The goal has always been for me to win a national championship. It’s still a goal this weekend going in. The way to do that, I think, is just literally working hard.

“Everyone who goes to nationals, they’re all good,” Craig continued. “Nobody’s specifically that much ahead of someone. If someone’s at nationals, they belong there. Most of the time, the person who wins is just the person who wants to win more. I think that’s the big thing about my goals. If I’m going to be a national champion, I have to want it more, I have to work harder, I have to dig a little deeper.”

“Jake is continuing to evolve,” Morin added. “He’s our program’s first freshman All-American. He did have a lot of success right away and had a really good first year. But he’s just done a good job (of improving). Everything from different techniques and tactics on the mat. Even just the off-the-mat stuff, where we challenged him from bouncing back from adversity, working through tough situations. He was up at 133 pounds early in the year, took a few losses. For us it was, ‘Hey, these are challenges and these are things that are going to make you a stronger and better wrestler.’ At his level, it’s really about (improving) on the little details. There’s not a whole lot of big things, just the little details, making sure he’s feeling good and healthy and ready to go.”

Craig’s path to nationals was not easy. At regionals, Craig had to wrestle in six matches. Picking up victories in his first three matches, Craig fell by a 7-4 decision to Gavin Bradley of Castleton (Vt.) University.

“We knew going in it wasn’t going to be an easy tournament, (the 125-pound division) is always notoriously stacked,” Craig said. “People who are very good, who could go to nationals, are not going to nationals. Something that we worked on going into it was me battling adversity and bouncing back. I had problems earlier in the season where, in matches, I’d be down (in points) and I’d just kind of lose. I’d be down and I didn’t really know how to (mentally) come back from it.”

With the threat of not reaching nationals in the balance, Craig managed to beat Christopher DeRosa of New England College by an 8-3 decision in the consolation semifinal. He then edged Fred Luchs of Rhode Island College by a 6-4 decision to secure third place and a berth to nationals.

“I just knew, in my head, that I’m going to keep going, doesn’t matter how tired I am,” Craig said. “I had a couple of nail-biters in that tournament. I’m just super glad that I kept pushing through.”

Wrestling success is nothing new to the Craig family, either. Jake’s brothers, Tyler and Cody, were former state champion standouts at Skowhegan. Spending a great deal of time around a wrestling mat throughout his life, Jake Craig said his strength lies with his knowledge.

“Definitely mat I.Q.,” Craig said. “I’ll go out on a limb and say I have absolutely no athleticism. You go ask a lot of people; I don’t do flashy things, I don’t do things that will wow someone, or make someone think, ‘Wow, this kid is super fast, or super strong.’ I’m just very positionally sound, I know where I’m at all times. It’s about having a certain I.Q. and knowing how to manage a match.”

Craig continues a recent line of former central Maine standouts who had success at USM, following the same path of former Gardiner Area High School alums Dan and Peter Del Gallo, as well as Erskine Academy graduate Jake Peavey, who is now an assistant coach for the Huskies. Dan Del Gallo — who was inducted into the USM Hall of Fame in 2022 — is the program’s all-time leader in wins (137) and reached nationals three times. He won the 149-pound national title in 2017.

Peter Del Gallo was also a three-time qualifier for nationals, and nearly topped his brother’s wins record, with a 133-10 mark on the mat. Peavey finished his career with a record of 87-32, which included 52-9 record during his final two seasons. A two-time qualifier for nationals, Peavey was also a five-time National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-American.

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