For five years, the Legends Wrestling Camp has brought grapplers from across the nation to Gothenburg with the common goal of improvement and the 2022 camp, scheduled for June 22-24, will provide more of the same with some new faces on the mat.

Begun in 2017 under the name of the David Taylor Legendary Coaches Camp, the three-day instructional and tournament event has been renamed Legends Wrestling Camp in 2018.

What started as a camp that drew local wrestlers and has grown to attract wrestling teams from across the country.

Last year, camp founder and director Tom Scott said there were around 400 athletes who attended, and he anticipates this year to surpass that number considering the lineup of technicians and clinicians who are scheduled to attend.

ZAIN RETHERFORDis a three-time National Champion, three-time Big Ten Conference winner, two-time Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and two-time Hodge Trophy Winner at Penn State University.

MAX DEANis a National Champion wrestler from Penn State University who earned All-America honors as a true freshman and again in his sophomore campaign. Before transferring to Penn State, earned unanimous All-Ivy League selection at Cornell and was the EIWA Champion at 184 pounds.

DALTON JENSENis a UNK Graduate and a 2012 NCAA Division II National Champion. He was named the Lopers head wrestling coach in 2016 and led them to a NCAA Division II National Championship in 2022.

With the introduction of girls’ wrestling to NSAA athletics this year, Scott has tapped two female wrestlers to lead technical sessions this year.

KILEY WELKERis considered the No. 1 pound-for-pound women’s high school wrestler in the country by USA wrestling. She made both the junior and U23 women’s freestyle world teams at 167 pounds and went 10-1 across both world team trial events. She won the bronze medal at the U23 world championships and is the first ever female wrestler signed to compete at a power-5 school (University of Iowa).

SAM CALKINSis considered the No. 16 overall women’s wrestling recruit in America according to USA Wrestling. She is ranked No. 1 nationally at 200 pounds. She won a California state title in 2022and won both the junior women’s folkstyle and junior women’s freestyle national championship. She will compete for the University of Iowa this winter. Beyond the individual clinicians and technicians that will be onsite throughout the camp, there will also be five defending state championship teams in attendance as well as 17 individual state title-holders who will be on site.

Legends Wrestling Camp is open to incoming second through twelfth graders and Scott assures that each camper will walk away with new knowledge.

“My ultimate goal for this camp is that everyone walks out with competitive matches and learns something new,” he said. “We have a place for everyone.”

The camp will open on June 22 at 9 a.m. with a brief all-camp meeting.

Wrestlers will be split into groups according to age and have instructional time with the technicians.

The high school wrestlers will dual while the youth wrestlers will get additional instruction and then move on to the American Ninja Warrior course that will be set up on the practice football field.

Late that afternoon, the high school athletes will have an opportunity to take their chances on the Ninja Warrior course or participate in the greco session before wrapping up with more duals to conclude day one.

On June 22, the Sun Theater will offer a movie for no charge to camp participants who wear their camp shirt to the show.

Others who wish to attend may see the show for $2.

Day two will get rolling at 9 a.m. when the high school wrestlers will be back in session with clinicians and then head into tournament action.

“We will match all wrestlers with athletes who wrestle at their ability level,” Scott said. “They will wrestle between five and seven matches that day.”

The youth wrestlers will work on technique, have drills and games incorporated into the instructional time and then head to the pool on the afternoon of day 2.

The third day will head straight into duals for the high school participants with the youth wrestlers getting into tournament action.

“The competition piece of this camp is strictly ability level and experience based,” Scott said. “No one will be wrestling above their ability level. We want to ensure that everyone who attends walks away with a feeling of achievement.”

The camp will wrap up with an awards ceremony.

A number of scholarships will be presented at that time, as well as team and individual honors.

College scholarships will be awarded to seniors who plan to attend college next year and new this year, one wrestler will be awarded a scholarship that will cover their entry fee to the Disney Duals in Orlando.

Scott said there are a lot of moving parts that come along with a camp of this caliber and Scott said he’s got a supporting cast that is second to none.

“The community has been tremendous in supporting us,” he said. “Whether it’s monetary or food donations, volunteering or passing the word, we are thankful to have the amount of support we do.”

The support isn’t just local, though.

“The Dawson County Tourism Board is great in supporting this endeavor,” Scott said. “Tyson in Lexington provides food for the campers, as well. When we took this on and decided to run with it, we were concerned about how it would work out. We couldn’t ask for a better team around us to make it all happen.”

Wrestlers and teams interested in participating in the 2022 Legends Wrestling Camp in Gothenburg may register at legendswrestlingcamp. com or search Legends Wrestling Camp on trackwrestling.

Registration deadline is June 10. Meals will be provided to the wrestlers and hotel accommodations are available at the Howard Johnson or Comfort Suites in Gothenburg or at the Cobblestone Inn in Cozad. Be sure to ask for the Legends Camp block

If you have any questions or are interested in donating or volunteering, contact Tom Scott at 402-890-4238.