USA250: Ranking the 10 greatest college athletes from Maine

Dangling in the northeast corner of the continental United States, Maine can often be overlooked in the broader world of American college sports.

Not giving the Pine Tree State its proper due, though, would be a mistake.

The state has just one Division I school, the University of Maine , but the Black Bears have enjoyed their time in the national spotlight in a handful of sports.

Led by future NHL star Paul Kariya, Maine won the men's ice hockey title in 1993 with one of the greatest teams in the sport's history before adding another national title in 1999.

The Black Bears are historically a college baseball powerhouse, with seven College World Series appearances: as many as Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi.

PATH TO PLAYOFF: Sign up for our college football newsletter Beyond the flagship state school in Orono, there are smaller, private colleges in the state such as Bowdoin, Colby and Bates that have been the home of stellar athletes.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States, USA TODAY Sports is ranking the top 10 college athletes from each state.

The athlete doesn't have to be from the state, but is required to have attended college there to be considered.

These rankings are based purely on what an athlete did at the college level, not once they left campus.

Tough cuts had to be made.

Who cracked the top 10 for Maine? 10 greatest college athletes from Maine Joan Benoit, Bowdoin One of the accomplished female long-distance runners in American history, Benoit began her college career at Bowdoin, a Division III school in Brunswick.

She finished her college career, which included time at North Carolina State, as a four-time All-American.

At the time of her induction into the Bowdoin Athletic Hall of Honor in 2002, she was still the American women's record holder for the marathon.

She went on to become a two-time Boston Marathon champion and won the inaugural women's marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

In 1999, Sports Illustrated ranked her 20th on its list of the top 100 female athletes of the 20th century.

In his only full season with the Black Bears, in 1992-93, he had 25 goals and 100 points, and became the first freshman to ever win the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the country's best men's college hockey player.

He helped lead Maine to a 42-1-2 record and the program's first NCAA championship.

He went on to enjoy a 15-year NHL career, won an Olympic gold medal with Canada in 2002 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017.

John Huard, Maine Huard is arguably the greatest football player in Maine history.

The tenacious linebacker was a two-time small college first-team All-American, in 1965 and 1966, and set three school records (most tackles in a season, most tackles in a game and the longest pass interception return, a 95-yarder).

He led the Black Bears to the Tangerine Bowl in 1965 before being selected by the Denver Broncos in the fifth round of the NFL draft.

In 2014, he became the first, and to this point only, Maine player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Jim Montgomery, Maine Though he's known today more as a coach he has coached the St.

Louis Blues, Boston Bruins and Dallas Stars, and led Denver to a NCAA championship in 2017 Montgomery was quite the player.

He's fourth in NCAA history in career points (301) and tied for third in career assists (198).

He was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award in 1993, which went to Kariya, and helped the Black Bears win the 1993 NCAA championship by scoring three third-period goals to help Maine recover from a 4-2 deficit against Lake Superior State to win the national title.

PROGRAM RANKINGS : Top 25 | Big Ten | SEC | ACC | Big 12 Scott Pellerin, Maine In 1992, Pellerin became the first Maine player to win the Hobey Baker Award.

While helping lead the Black Bears to two Frozen Four appearances, Pellerin racked up 223 career points, the second-most in program history.

He's third in Maine history in career goals (106) and assists (117).

After initially bypassing professional hockey in 1989 to remain in college, Pellerin played 11 seasons in the NHL.

Mark Sweeney, Maine Sweeney was the co-captain of a 1991 Maine baseball team that won a program-record 48 games and advanced to the NCAA Northeast Regional final.

By the end of his career, he held 23 school records and was a three-time All-American.

As a senior in 1991, he was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given to the top amateur baseball player in the country, after hitting .384 and setting single-season school records for home runs (23), RBI (80), walks (54), runs (77) and total bases (178).

He went on to play 14 MLB seasons with seven different teams.

Bill Swift, Maine A Portland, Maine native and the 14th of 15 children, Swift was the key figure in Maine's four College World Series appearances from 1981-84.

A three-time All-American, the right-hander held or shared seven Maine pitching records at the time of his induction into the school's athletic hall of fame in 1991.

His college accolades led to a productive, 13-year MLB career.

With the San Francisco Giants, he led the majors in ERA in 1992 and finished second in National League Cy Young voting in 1993.

Cindy Blodgett, Maine Blodgett is one of the greatest scorers in NCAA women's basketball history, with her 3,005 career points ranking her 17th on the all-time Division I scoring list (at the end of her career in 1998, she was fourth).

She was the nation's leading scorer in two different seasons, becoming only the second woman and fifth person in NCAA Division I history to do so.

At the time of her graduation, she held 20 different program records.

She led the Black Bears to the NCAA tournament in each of her four seasons at the school before embarking on a WNBA career.

Jack Coombs, Colby Coombs was a multi-sport star at Colby in the early 1900s, excelling in baseball, basketball, football and track, with Coombs serving as captain for the baseball and basketball teams.

He ran the 100-yard dash in 10.2 seconds, the fastest time in New England at the time, and played every position for Colby's baseball team while leading it to several state collegiate championships.

As a senior, he posted a 14-3 record as a pitcher.

After college, he was a three-time World Series champion with the Philadelphia Athletics and was a two-time American League wins leader.

Jimmy Howard, Maine In his time at Maine from 2002-05, Howard pieced together one of the most impressive resumes for a goaltender in modern college hockey history.

The future three-time NHL All-Star with the Detroit Red Wings holds program records for career goals against average (1.84), career save percentage (.931), career shutouts (15), goals against average in a season (1.19 in 2003-04), save percentage in a season (.956) and saves in a game (63, in a triple-overtime win over UMass in the Hockey East championship game).

His save percentage and goals against average in 2003-04 are still NCAA single-season records.

During that All-America season, he helped lead the Black Bears to the NCAA championship game, where it lost, 1-0, to Denver.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: USA250: Ranking the 10 greatest college athletes from Maine.