8 hours Ago By Tom Fox
Wilkes University wrestler Cam Butka. COURTESY OF WILKES UNIVERSITY Wilkes University wrestler Cam Butka. COURTESY OF WILKES UNIVERSITY Wilkes University wrestler Cam Butka.
COURTESY OF WILKES UNIVERSITY Wilkes University wrestler Cam Butka. COURTESY OF WILKES UNIVERSITY Wilkes University wrestler Cam Butka. COURTESY OF WILKES UNIVERSITY EDWARDSVILLE — It’s a question Cam Butka is frequently asked.
It’s also one he’s been trying to put in the back of his mind. What’s next? The West Scranton graduate and Wilkes University senior is going to leave the institution as one of the best wrestlers to ever grace the mats. He’s set records.
He’s won tournaments. No Colonel has more career wins. “I don’t know how I’m going to feel.
I’m sure I’ll be flooded with emotions when nationals is over, regardless of the outcome,” said Butka, who is seeded No. 2 in the 197-pound weight class at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships that start Friday in Rhode Island. “Life, it’s unpredictable, but I can 100% say that wrestling will always be part of my life.
” Talk with the senior for a few minutes, and the drive and determination boils in the pit of his stomach. He’s ready for nationals. It’s the moment he’s had burned deep inside his mind for the last 12 months.
In those precious minutes, however, it’s easy to see how much love fills his heart. Love for his family. An appreciation for a coaching staff that pushed him to new heights.
Loyalty, respect and admiration for teammates, past and present. It drives Butka on a daily basis. High expectations As a freshman, Butka entered Wilkes with high expectations.
He was a two-sport athlete at West Scranton, a high-intensity player in baseball and wrestling. As a wrestler, he was a District 2 champion, a 100-match winner and a state medalist as a senior. In the classroom, no one was better.
He was valedictorian. Wilkes was going to be different. He was back to being a freshman with zero wins.
He was also about to embark in one of the toughest majors: biochemistry. “I wouldn’t say I was as nervous as I was excited to be part of a program as good as Wilkes,” Butka said. “It was the beginning of a new chapter.
I wouldn’t change a thing going back. I would re-do all of these four years over and over again. I’ve had the best time ever, and not just because of the wrestling.
Wilkes is the best place to be. I love my coaching staff and every single one of my teammates.” Butka’s name quickly became known in the NCAA world.
He went 29-10 and finished fourth in the region, showing he was about to be a force for the next three years. Finding the right (bio)chemistry Butka is more than just wrestling. He’s probably one of the top academic minds on campus.
He was named a 2024 NCAA Division III Scholar All-American by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. He has a lot of records, accolades and honors on the Resilite. But being an Academic All-American might be the topping on the cake.
Biochemistry is no walk in the park. Some struggle to survive in the discipline that’s taxing and time-consuming with the amount of detailed, precision work that’s required. “I wasn’t even sure I was going to play a sport in general,” he said.
“In the beginning, it was tough because it was only school. Once wrestling started up, my time-management skills shot through the roof, especially since biochemistry is such a challenging major. It required a lot of time spent in the library, doing extra work outside of my classes to make sure I fully understood the material.
” In high school, he said, things came to him pretty quickly. In college, not so much. “That was a big change for me,” Butka said.
“I had to put in a lot of time on my own to excel in the classes. Wrestling kind of forced me into a schedule where I didn’t have time to dilly-dally or do anything else. It was go to class, go to practice, do all of my homework that I needed to for the night and go to bed.
Then, it was the same thing the next day.” Butka deployed his new philosophy to balance his time. Simply put, he wouldn’t do any work after 9 p.
m. because that’s the time he allotted for his body to rest and recover. If he was going to succeed, sleep was going to be his biggest key.
“Obviously, there were a few times where I had to break that rule and go to 10 or 11. But I knew that I had the work ethic and the resources available to get my work done in a timely manner,” he said. “And I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my sleep because that’s the only time I would recover my body, especially after wrestling super hard.
I needed that sleep to function properly.” Sensational senior There isn’t much Butka hasn’t accomplished this season. Big-tournament wins? Check.
He finished first at the Ned McGinley Invitational, Shenandoah Invitational, Blue Jay Classic and Pete Wilson Invite. He’s 39-2 this season, and heading back to the NCAA tournament. He also set the record for most wins in a career as his 122nd victory broke the record previously held by Guesseppe Rea in 2017.
A lot of memorable moments for sure. Ask Butka to pick out one, and it’s none on that list. He’s extremely proud of all of those accolades, but for him, it’s about being a teammate.
“A lot of moments that I had here that stand out, but being with the team every single day, that’s the stuff that stands out to me,” Butka said. “Even on days where you don’t want to practice, and you are not really having a good day because it’s a hard live-day and you are getting your butt kicked. You look around the room and you see your guys doing the same exact thing as you.
You don’t feel nearly as bad.” Last stop This is the day about which he has been dreaming. Three hundred and sixty five days is a long time.
Every day he went to practice, sweating, pushing himself inside the wrestling room, he was reminded. There’s a wall in there dedicated to NCAA champions. Every day, Butka stared at it, envisioning his photo on it; envisioning what it would mean to call himself an NCAA champion.
He enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed with the opportunity to reach his dreams. His path starts Friday morning in the Round of 16 against Mount Union’s Bryce McCloskey (21-7).
Win that one, and he advances into the quarterfinals later that night. The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday morning with the finals at night. “I want my photo on that wall so bad,” he said.
“Not that any of these other awards, accolades and records that I’ve broken don’t mean anything to me because they do. They are a testament of how hard I worked. A national champ, it’s just something else.
That’s my driving force. I know I can do it. I’m right there.
” The future It’s the question posed to Butka the most as his wrestling career winds down. What does the future hold in terms of the sport? The short answer? It’s always going to be there in his heart and soul. The long answer? It may need to take a back seat for a few years.
Butka will leave Wilkes and head to the University of Pittsburgh for his next stop where he’ll participate in a rigorous PhD program. It will likely take him four to six years to complete the requirements, and from there, he’s not sure where the future will lead him. He’s leaning toward the pharmaceutical industry, although he admits, that could change.
What won’t change is his love of wrestling. “I know I will be itching to get back on the mat in some way, shape or form,” Butka said. “I definitely think wrestling will have to remain part of my life because it has been since I’ve been in sixth grade.
All of a sudden, it will be done. That’s probably my biggest regret; that I’m almost done and won’t get to experience it again. I really soaked it up.
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I’ll always be a Wilkes wrestler at heart.”.
