When Jess Wilder began to build a wrestling program at Camden County, he went against conventional wisdom. He was encouraged to recruit the school’s best athletes and entice them to join the wrestling team. That didn’t work, so he went to Plan B.
“I just started going after kids that weren’t doing any activities, weren’t involved in the sport at all, and tried to get them into wrestling and basically spend a lot of time with them,” he said. “From there we just started to stay consistent.”
That was 18 years ago, and Wilder’s plan continues to work. Over the next four weeks, the Wildcats will be trying to win their 11th consecutive state duals championship and their 11th consecutive traditional meet. Only Jefferson, which won 18 consecutive traditional titles from 2001-18 and 19 consecutive duals titles from 2001-19, has done it better.
Camden County enters the state tournament with three returning two-time state champions — senior Bradley Patterson at the 120-pound division, junior Hunter Prosen at 138 and junior Ryder Wilder at 190.
Credit: Camden County High School
Credit: Camden County High School
Wilder came by the sport naturally. His dad is the coach, so he’s been around wrestling his whole life.
“I like that it’s a one-on-one sport,” said Wilder, who committed to wrestle at Northwestern. “If you lose, it’s on you. If you win, it’s on you. It’s not like other team sports where the offense will blame the defense if you lose. In wrestling, it’s just you wrestling the other guy, and if you’re the better guy, you win.”
Prosen was in elementary school when his father took him to wrestling practice for the first time. “He just wanted something that was going to be certain in my life, so he’s like, ‘You’re going to wrestle, and you’re going to wrestle every day,’” Prosen said.
It worked out. Prosen likes the independence the sport provides and said the feeling that comes with a victory — especially at the highest level — is indescribable.
“It’s exhilarating,” Prosen said. “It’s something not a lot of people get to feel, so it’s pretty special.”
Last year the Wildcats had four state champions — Konlin Weaver was the only gold medalist who graduated from the 2024 championship team — and 14 wrestlers score points at the state meet. Much of that team returns.
Jess Wilder began wrestling when he was in the fifth grade and became an all-state competitor at Palm Bay High School in Melbourne, Florida. He wrestled for UNC-Pembroke before transferring to Carson-Newman, where he became an All-American and three-time NCAA Division II national qualifier. He started the program at University of the Cumberlands in 1996 and stayed there from 1996-2005, compiling a 84-15 record in duals, earning national coach-of-the-year honors in 1997 and 1998, and being inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2016.
In 2007, he and wife, Elizabeth, were looking for a warmer place that was closer to Florida, where he could teach and coach wrestling. The Camden County position was open, and Wilder threw himself into the job and the results quickly followed. The Wildcats became to have success on the state level — seventh in the traditional meet in 2007, then third in traditional and fourth in duals in 2009.
Credit: Camden County High School
Credit: Camden County High School
Camden County won its first state championship in duals in 2012. The current dominance began in 2015, when the Wildcats swept the duals and traditional meets. They have not lost since and will be looking to extend their streak at the dual championships on Jan. 17-18 in Buford and in the traditional tournament Feb. 13-15 at the Macon Coliseum.
This team is trending in the right direction. Over the holidays the Wildcats won the Knockout Christmas Classic in Orlando, Florida, an event that draws the best teams from the Southeast.
“There were probably 10 different teams in that tournament that were state champions,” Wilder said. “And that was good, competition-wise, going into the state championship, which will be super challenging because of how good Buford is. They’re a nationally ranked team.”
