The Maine Exchange: Auburn Wrestler Travels 1,800 Miles For Once in a Lifetime Experience

Logan Rowell, class of 2026 at Auburn High School, spent 10 days this summer as Auburn’s lone representative in the Nebraska to Maine Wrestling Exchange, an event participants and coaches call the “Maine Exchange.” He was the only wrestler from southeast Nebraska on a roster otherwise filled with wrestlers from central Nebraska.

A last-minute addition

Rowell’s spot on the trip came together almost by chance. He was competing at the state track meet when he overheard the Fairbury coach talking with Auburn Coach Mark Oliver about a gap in the roster for the Maine Exchange; the team needed a 215-pounder. “I was standing there, and Oliver was like, ‘Hey, we got one of those,’” Rowell said. The Fairbury coach agreed on the spot. Rowell took home a bronze medal at the 215-pound Class B state tournament that February, a result that made his last-minute recruitment look prophetic.

Rowell’s family drove to Maine while Logan and the rest of the team flew, giving them extra travel time along the way. His parents, Heather and Jeff Rowell, and grandparents Virginia and Mike Vinson came for the trip. Logan’s grandfather Mike was a longtime wrestling coach at Auburn.

The exchange dates back to 1984, when wrestling coach and referee Wally LaFontaine met a group of Nebraska wrestling officials at a rules conference and started what organizers call a “friendship exchange.” Nebraska sends a team to Maine every other year; on off years, a Maine team travels to Nebraska.

“It’s almost more than wrestling,” Rowell said. “Half the time you’re competing, and the other half you’re just getting the experience of what it’s like being there.”

That experience included a lobster boat outing, swimming, side-by-side rides and beach trips, plus a first taste of lobster and whoopie pies, a Maine dessert Rowell described as a cross between an oatmeal cream pie and a chocolate cake sandwich.

The team’s route took them from Portland north to Friendship, then farther north to Lincoln, Maine, a first for the exchange, before heading south to Winslow and finishing in Sanford. In Winslow, Rowell stayed with LaFontaine’s daughter, one of the trip’s host families.

Host families and wrestlers exchange more than hospitality. Nebraska wrestlers bring goodie bags with regional staples like Dorothy Lynch dressing, Kool-Aid and popcorn balls, and wrestlers trade t-shirts with each opponent, leaving Rowell with a shirt from every stop on the trip.

Rowell competed in five matches over the exchange, winning four. His only loss came in his first match, to a state and New England champion who plans to become an Army combat medic.

His standout moment came in Sanford, in his last match of the trip. Maine’s usual 215-pound wrestler was injured, so a heavyweight state champion, who had also placed third at the multi-state New England tournament, wrestled up to fill the weight class. The Sanford heavyweight outweighed Rowell by 30 to 40 pounds.

The match, wrestled outdoors on a baseball field in record-breaking heat near 110 degrees, came after the team had spent hours at the beach. Rowell said he was exhausted, sunburned and frustrated to be facing the bigger wrestler, but the match turned into his best of the trip. He pinned his opponent early in the second period.

Rowell said local sponsors covered the costs making the trip possible, while host families covered lodging and some meals during the stay. Sponsors for the exchange included: Brenda and Larry Draper, David and Megan Grant, Auburn State Bank, Hemmingsen Funeral Home, Mark and Kay Oliver, Chris and Kelli Hanley, Jennifer Hawley, SBS Insurance, Brent Meyer, Matt and Brittney Gulizia and Gallagher Insurance Services.

Whether Rowell wrestles in college remains undecided. He’ll attend Doane University on a track scholarship this fall, but he isn’t ruling out wrestling. Heather Rowell said wrestling has been a family thread for years, and she expects that to continue regardless of what Logan decides.

“I watched my dad coach forever and followed him around, and then all my boys did it,” she said. “Now I guess I’ll be the wrestling grandma.”

Rowell said he hopes to return to coaching wrestling and track himself someday. His advice for the next wrestler offered a spot on the exchange: “Do it. A hundred percent. It’s the most fun I’ve had competing in a sport.”

CHEERING AND SUPPORTING their athlete at the first match of the trip is from the left: Heather Rowell, Mike Vinson, Logan Rowell, Virginia Vinson and Jeff Rowell.