2025 Starts Strong for Colonel Wrestling
2025 Starts Strong for Colonel Wrestling
Published on February 3rd, 2025 by Associate Head Men's Wrestling Coach, Pankil Chander
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Colonels have strong showing in first appearance at Pete Wilson Invitational - The largest DIII regular season tournament in the nation
Laudenslager earns 300th dual win
Butka bears standard by breaking program record for most career wins
Wilkes Wrestling ColonelCast launches with mission to tell stories of program standouts, coaches, staff, faculty, wrestlers, and more
Burkhart ties program record for fastest career pin
Colonels remain steady in Team and Individual National Rankings
Wilkes has strong showing at Bud Whitehill National Duals and NY-PA Challenge
Future is bright - Inaugural women's class shaping up while men's class continues to roll
Butka brings home 197lb Championship at prestigious Pete Wilson Invitational; Burkhart and Kerwin medal to lead Colonels to 12th place finish out of 30 teams
(Thank you to Alumnus, Dan Cardell '79 for a great team dinner at historic Lou Malnati's for authentic deep dish pizza while out in the Chicago area for the Pete Wilson Invitational!)
(Thank you to Alumnus, Jed Starner '03 for a great team breakfast while out in the Chicago area for the Pete Wilson Invitational!)
The Colonels had three placewinners at the Pete Wilson Invitational in Caleb Burkhart (5th at 285lbs), Cam Butka (Champion at 197lbs), and Connor Kerwin (7th at 125lbs).
Caleb Burkhart went 5-2 over the two-day event and defeated regionally ranked opponents in Steven Marra of Mount Union (No. 3 in Region 3) and Sloan Welch of Wisconsin Eau-Claire (No. 5 in Region 7) to finish 5th at 285lbs.
Unseeded Connor Kerwin went 4-2 on the weekend and defeated regionally ranked opponents in Brett Stanley of John Carroll (No. 5 in Region 5) and Cameron Lee of Millikin (No. 8 in Region 5) to finish 7th in a field that included five wrestlers in top 15 at 125lbs.
Cam Butka led the way for Wilkes with a workmanlike 5-0 performance to win the 197lbs crown and upended Gavin Layman of Ohio Northern (No. 15 nationally), Casey Aikmain of North Central (No. 7 in Region 5) and Bryce McCloskey of Mount Union (No. 3 in Region 5) to win the title.
In Wilkes' first ever showing in the 83rd Pete Wilson Invitational in Northern Illinois, the Colonels earned a 12th place team finish out of a strong 30 team field that included 10 national top 25 teams.
The largest and toughest Division III regular season tournament in the nation, the Pete Wilson Invite attracts talent across the nation including teams from Michigan, Illinois, Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. This event is the closest it gets in terms of size and quality to the NCAA Championships, and we're grateful for the support we have received from alumni, family, and friends of the program to make this experience possible for our student-athletes.
Every team is limited to ten entries (one per weight class), which encourages participation from every program's best representative per weight, and allowed the Colonels an experience to compete among the nation's best to continue to be prepared for the biggest moments come the postseason!
We plan on returning to this event annually and continuing to provide this transformational experience to our wrestlers, which comes at a cost - Round trip flights to Chicago for the team, rental cars, hotel rooms, meals, sightseeing expenses, and more. In order to continue providing this experience, we humbly ask for your generous support. A gift in any amount helps our student-athletes continue having a positive and impactful experience.
With the dual win over the Scranton Royals on January 23rd, Director Of Wrestling Jon Laudenslager earned his 300th dual win in his 22nd year at the helm of the Colonels!
Colonels won seven out of ten bouts with bonus points to cruise to a 42-14 win. Laudenslager is just the sixth head coach in the Wilkes University program and the second most winningest coach behind the late John Reese who tallied 514 wins in his 42 years at the helm.
Laudenslager has led the Colonels to 17 winning seasons and posting at least 13 wins 12 times. The 1999 Wilkes Wrestling alumnus wrestled for legendary coach John Reese for Reese’s final season before retirement and wrestled under Colonel All-American Al Zellner for the rest of his college career to round out the final seasons of Wilkes’ time as a Division I wrestling program.
The Laudenslager File
• Led Wilkes through 800th and 900th program dual victory milestones
• 17 winning seasons
• 1 NCAA Champion (Matt Grossmann)
• 3 NCAA Finalists
• 41 NCAA Championship Qualifiers
• 11 NCAA All-Americans
• 8 NCAA Championship Semi-Finalists
• 2014 NCAA East Region Champions (Region Coach of the year)
• 2009 Metro Conference Champions (Conference Coach of the year)
• Top 6 finish at 2014 National Dual Championships
• 15 consecutive seasons with an NCAA Qualifier
• 7 consecutive seasons with an All-American
Cam Butka Bears Standard by Breaking Program Record for Most Career Wins
(Cam Butka '25 is the new program record holder for most career wins!)
Senior, Cam Butka made history at the John Reese Duals on Saturday, January 25th by earning his 122nd career win against Callaghan of Ithaca College and surpassed the 121 win career record previously held by 2015 All-American Guesseppe Rea ' 17.
A returning NCAA Division III All-American, Butka is 33-2 on the season with individual championships at the Ned McGinley Invitational, Shenandoah Invitational, Blue Jay Classic, and the prestigious Pete Wilson Invitational and is currently ranked No. 2 at 197lbs in The Open Mat National Rankings, No. 4 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Poll, and No. 2 in the d3wrestle.com National Rankings.
Wilkes Wrestling ColonelCast is Live!
The ColonelCast will continue to feature guests on the podcast and share more impactful stories on Colonel Wrestling!
If you have any suggestions of guests to feature, please send an email with your recommendation to pankil.chander@wilkes.edu
With over 70 years of wrestling excellence, and over 900 dual meet wins includes countless stories and pieces of history. The ethos of Wilkes University Wrestling was coined by longtime coach and National Wrestling Hall of Famer, John G. Reese - Victory Goes To Those Who Are Willing To Pay The Price.
In an effort to share the impactful experiences and stories of program alumni, wrestlers, coaches, support staff, and faculty, I welcome guests of the past and present that have paid the price and left a lasting legacy on the Colonels storied wrestling program and the Wilkes University Community alike.
The first two episodes were released in January 2025. The first episode kicked off with Coach Laudenslager '99 and Coach Zellner '72 - Two of only six head coaches in the history of the program!
The second episode featured two-time NCAA Division III All-American, and NCAA Runner-Up, Anthony Dattolo '12.
(Soon to be Hall of Fame Inductee, Dave Gregrow ‘78 and current senior, Caleb Burkhart share the program record for fastest pin in 8 seconds and gathered for a picture at yesterday’s annual John Reese Duals)
Caleb Burkhart ties program pin record held by David Gregrow '78 with 8 second fall!
Burkhart tied Gregrow’s record on Saturday, January 18th at the NY-PA Challenge against an opponent from Hunter College - Dave Gregrow earned his against a Binghamton opponent in 1978. Two generations of proud Colonels that had the same mission on the mat. Score points and dominate - It’s the Wilkes Way!
Colonels remain steady in National Rankings
The Colonels are getting attention from three different national outlets. The Open Mat placed Wilkes in the National Top 25 at No. 18 in the tournament team rankings, while the National Wrestling Coaches Association Poll has returning NCAA All-American, Cam Butka at No. 4 at 197lbs, while more than half of the Colonels' lineup is featured in the NCAA DIII Region 2 rankings. Additionally, a few of our wrestlers earned a spot in the d3wrestle.com national rankings.
Butka leads the way individually for the Colonels by capturing a nod in each of the three national platforms, while Burkhart and Hartranft remains in the national conversation by The Open Mat and d3wrestle.com.
National Wrestling Coaches Association Poll (As of latest ranking released on 1.24.2025)
NWCA National Poll (Read more by clicking
Cam Butka, No. 4 at 197lbs
NWCA Regional Poll for Region 2
Ryan Santiago, No. 2 at 141lbs
Jaryn Hartranft, No. 2 at 157lbs
Melquan Warren, No. 4 at 174lbs
Cam Butka, No. 1 at 197lbs
Caleb Burkhart, No. 2 at 285lbs
The Open Mat National Rankings (As of latest ranking release on 1.29.25)
Tournament Team: No. 18
Jaryn Hartranft, No. 18 at 157lbs
Cam Butka, No. 2 at 197lbs
Caleb Burkhart, No. 13 at 285lbs
D3wrestle.com National Rankings (As of latest ranking released on 1.30.25)
Jaryn Hartranft, Contender at 157lbs
Cam Butka, No. 2 at 197lbs
Caleb Burkhart, Honorable Mention at 285lbs
Colonels have strong showing at Bud Whitehill National Duals and NY-PA Challenge
In a deep 16 team field with 7 national top 25 teams, Wilkes earned dual wins over Cortland and Messiah to elevate to a 7th place finish at the Bud Whitehill National Duals! Standout efforts from Caleb Burkhart (5-0), Cam Butka (4-0), Connor Kerwin (3-2), Colton Thorpe (3-2), Ryan Santiago (3-2), and Michael Richardson (3-2) helped lead the Colonels all weekend!
Colonels took a trip to the heart of New York City for the NY-PA Challenge and earned a pair of dual wins against The United States Merchant Marine Academy and Hunter College.
Future is bright for Wilkes Wrestling
Inaugural Women's Incoming Class Shaping up, while Men's Incoming Class Continues!
The future for Wilkes Wrestling (both men and women) is bright!
Our first wave of women's committed incoming wrestlers starts strong with Milly, Ava, and Alyssa and several other strong prospects ready to be a Colonel in the upcoming months.
Jimmy and Nick continue our strong pipeline in the state of New Jersey while several other strong impactful commitments from the Northeast will continue to be announced later this winter and spring!
The start of 2025 has been great to the Colonels Wrestling program and we look forward to putting in the effort to earn more highlight moments as we approach the home stretch of the season! It’s a great time to be a Colonel!
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