Olympic Wrestlers Coming To Watford City

A trio of wrestlers will visit Watford City, all of them having many ties to the Olympics. The Wolves Wrestling team will be hosting their second annual Bootcamp Wrestling Camp from June 4-6 and camp director Dwight Griffin has lined up an all-star cast of clinicians to headline this event. Each day of the three-day camp, a different clinician will be featured.

Kicking off the camp will be one of the most decorated wrestlers in the history of the United States, Bruce Baumgartner. Baumgartner has medaled in four different Olympic games, winning two gold medals, a silver, and a bronze. He has also medaled nine separate times at the World Championships that are held in non-Olympic Years, yielding three gold medals, three silver medals, and three bronze medals. On top of his world accolades, he is a 16-time United States Champion. "When people talk about the greatest wrestlers in the history of the world, his name is pretty close to the top of that list." explained Mitch Greenwood, the Wolves head wrestling coach. "To have him coming to Watford City to teach our kids about wrestling and to share his stories is truly an honor! It's an honor to have all of these guys coming here."

While this will be Baumgartner's first trip to Watford City, the other two clinicians are making a return trip after being part of the first Bootcamp Wrestling Camp last summer. Day two will feature another Olympic Gold Medalist, Steve Fraser. Fraser, a past two-time NCAA All-American for the Michigan Wolverines, was the 1984 Greco-Roman Olympic Champion. While many Americans had won Freestyle Olympic titles, Fraser was the first American ever to win gold in the Greco-Roman style. Fraser also won the 1984 US Open in Freestyle. He has been on the US Olympic Greco Roman Coaching Staff since 1995 and currently serves as the head coach for the Olympic Team. Also making a return trip to Watford City is Dan Russell. Russell was a four-time undefeated state champion in Oregon during his high school days. He followed that up with four straight NCAA Division 2 Championships while wrestling for Portland State. Russell also attended two Olympic Games as an Alternate on Team USA and was a World Champion in 1995. Russell has also served as a National Team coach for Team USA youth wrestling.

Last year, the Bootcamp Wrestling Camp featured just over 40 participants in grades two through twelve from Watford City, Bowman, Stanley, Tioga, New Town, and Central Cass. Coach Greenwood and Camp Director Griffin are expecting an even larger turnout this year. "We have a lot of kids from last year who have already registered to come back again this year," stated Greenwood. "We also have a lot of interest from some new communities this year, including some out-of-state wrestlers and teams from Montana and South Dakota." Griffin, who has coached in the St. Louis, Missouri area for many years, found himself in the Watford City area through his work in the oil industry. Griffin has run camps out of St. Louis for many years and has had many other high-level clinicians such as 1996 Olympic Champion Kendall Cross who was in Watford City for last year's camp. He's also had legends Dan Gable, Rulon Gardner, Kevin Jackson, and Bobby Douglas involved in his camps. More information about the Bootcamp Wrestling Camps can be found at http://www.bootcampwrestling.com.