A final reminder to register for the 4th Annual Nick Gavazzi Camp. As many know, this is a highly attended camp, that receives high accolades from all who attend. The camp's profits are donated to the Too Sweet Memorial Foundation, which regularly supports the area's youth and high school wrestling community. Additionally, this past year, the proceeds from the camp went to taking 4 Quest Teams to the NHSCA National Duals in Virginia Beach, whereby three of the teams made it into the final day of competition and our Team Black took 4th out of 197 Teams!!!
Registration is open for one of the best camps of the summer, but will be closing soon. The Nick Gavazzi Invitational Camp is being held Monday, August 5th through Wednesday, August 7th 2019. It is open to anyone, wrestlers DO NOT HAVE TO BE QUEST MEMBERS.
Check out below, the star studding coaching staff added for the 2019 camp! Click on the link above to register and for additional details.
Cost per wrestler is $300.00. This camp is pretty full, so register today!
This camp is intended for all ages, however, it is definitely for the more advanced wrestler! Additional details are below regarding the format of this camp.
This year we have added the following to the camp's Coaching Staff:
Gene Mills:
Gene Mills, a native of New Jersey, and carries the nickname “Mean Gene, The Pinning Machine” by piling up falls from the time he was a kid all the way through his international career. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame (NWHoF) has him for 886 total falls across all levels of competition as well as 1356 career victories. At Syracuse, Mills was a four-time All-American and two-time national champion, winning in 1979 and 1981. In 1980, he took a redshirt to pursue an Olympic gold medal during this same year, Mills was named athlete of the year by the U.S. Olympic committee. Although Mills did not compete in the Moscow Olympics because of the U.S. boycott, he became a World Super Champion in Japan and a Tbilisi Champion in the former USSR. Mills was voted the outstanding wrestler in both tournaments. Mills was a finalist for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team but shoulder reconstruction prevented him from fulfilling his Olympic dream.
Mills was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2000. Mills went on to become a successful high school wrestling coach in Phoenix, NY. CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Two-time NCAA Champion; four-time All-American; World Cup Champion and Outstanding Wrestler; Tbilisi Soviet Champion and Outstanding Wrestler; U.S. Olympic Committee Athlete of the Year; Distinguished member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Tim Flynn:
Tim Flynn is currently the head coach at West Virginia University. He started there in 2018 from Edinboro, where he spent the past 21 years building the Fighting Scots into a wrestling powerhouse. He compiled a 223-95-5 career record at Edinboro to become the school’s all-time winningest coach and a member of its Hall of Fame.
His accomplishments at Edinboro totaled 150 national qualifiers, 38 All-Americans, 64 EWL champions and 97 PSAC champions. He led the Fighting Scots to five top-10 finishes at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, 14 top-20 finishes and 18 top-25 finishes.
Flynn engineered in recent years two of the best seasons in Edinboro wrestling history. He received NWCA NCAA Division I Coach of the Year honors, shared InterMat Coach of the Year honors with Minnesota’s J Robinson and also was selected as WIN’s Dan Gable Coach of the Year.
He was the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) Coach of the Year seven times and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Coach of the Year 13 times. Flynn also coached three national champions (John Koscheck at 174 in 2001, Gregor Gillespie at 149 in 2007 and Jarrod King at 165 in 2009) and eight NCAA runners-up.
The former Penn State All-American, before taking over the head coaching duties, Flynn was an assistant at Edinboro under legendary coach and Olympian Bruce Baumgartner from 1992-97. Flynn assisted Baumgartner to a 56-21 record, including a 14-0 dual match mark and a sixth-place finish at Nationals in 1996.
Nick Heflin:
Nick Heflin has been the assistant coach of Oklahoma University since 2017. In Heflin’s first year, OU finished in second place at the 2017 Big 12 Championship, and eight wrestlers qualified for the 2017 NCAA Championships in St. Louis and in his second season, the Sooners sent five wrestlers to the NCAA Championships. Heflin aided in top-tier recruiting, bringing four top-100 recruits to Norman ahead of the 2018-19 season.
Prior to his time at OU, Heflin spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at Princeton. Heflin helped lead the Tigers to their seventh top-25 finish in program history in 2016-17 after sending seven student-athletes to the NCAA Championships, including freshman All-American Matthew Kolodzik. In 2015-16 under Heflin's direction, 197-pounder Brett Harner earned the EIWA crown and reach the podium at the national tournament.
A three-time All-American for the Buckeyes and the 2014 NCAA Runner-Up at 197 pounds, Heflin wrestled for Lou Rosselli at Ohio State from 2010-2014. After graduating, he worked as a strength coach with both the Ohio State football and wrestling teams and with the Ohio Regional Training Center
Other decorated clinicians attending the camp:
Mason Beckman:
Quest's own Mason Beckman is heading into his second season as assistant coach at George Mason Univeristy. Prior to that he spent two years as our assistant coach. He was also a content contributor and audio editor for PA Power Wrestling in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he created content for weekly podcasts.
At Lehigh, Beckman amassed 104 victories from 2011-2016, which sits twelfth on the program’s all-time wins list. He qualified for the NCAA tournament four times and earned All-American honors twice, finishing sixth in both 2014 and 2015.
In addition, Beckman was a three-time EIWA finalist, winning the conference title in 2014 and finishing as a runner-up in 2015 and 2016. He competed in the NWCA All-Star Classic three times (2013, 2014, 2015), was named a team captain in each of his final three seasons (2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16) and was also a three-time NWCA Academic All-American (2014, 2015, 2016).
A native of Transfer, Pennsylvania, Beckman won a pair of PIAA State Championships for Reynolds High School and still holds the AA state career wins record with 196.
Vertus Jones:
Vertus is currently the assistant varsity wrestling coach at North Hills High School. He is a 1995 graduate of Greensburg Salem High School, Vertus compiled a 146-12-1 record in four years at Greensburg Salem. His accomplishments include a four-time Section 1-AAA champion, four-time Westmoreland County champion, and two-time WPIAL champion (1994 -1995). Vertus placed fourth and third in the PIAA Tournament as a sophomore and junior, and he won a state title at 171 pounds as a senior. He also wrestled in the Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic in 1995. At the conclusion of his senior year, he signed a National Letter of Intent to attend West Virginia University. As a four year starter for the Mountaineer Wrestling Team, he spent the 1999 and 2000 wrestling season as a team captain. He compiled a 95-21 record at West Virginia University. He is one of three individuals to win four Eastern Wrestling League Championships. He is a three-time NCAA Division I place winner, who finished second in 1998 and 2000 and third in 1999. Vertus was a participant in the NWCA All Star Classic in 1999 and a NCAA Sportsperson of the Year finalist in 2000.
Scott Collins:
Scott Collins, a native of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, put West Virginia wrestling in the national spotlight in 1991 when he became the first Mountaineer grappler to win a national championship and guided WVU to a sixth-place team finish at the NCAA tournament, still the highest finish in program history.
Collins became WVU's 12th EWL champion when he won that tournament in 1991 and was named EWL wrestler of the year. Ranked No. 1 in the nation all season, Collins dominated the 149-pound weight class as a senior, posting a 40-1 record (undefeated in EWL action) and downing Oklahoma State's Chuck Barbee at the 1991 NWCA All-Star Classic.
Leaving an impression on the WVU record books, he ranked first in season wins for a 149-pounder (40), first in season pins (13), tied for second in career wins (119) and third in EWL tournament wins (10). He is a member of the EWL, Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches' and the Pennsylvania District 9 Halls of Fame.
You can reply to this email or call Coach Akerly at 412-352-3727 with any questions.
