BUTLER TWP — Matt Pribis is off to the Navy — for nine days.

For now.

The Butler senior wrestler eventually wants to become a Navy SEAL. But before that he wants to join the Naval Academy wrestling team.

"I'm basically going down there to recruit myself," Pribis said. "I want to try to show their coaches I can earn a spot on their team."

Pribis left Friday night for the Naval Academy Wrestling Camp in Annapolis, Md. The camp is being run by Navy coach Bruce Burnett, who led the U.S, Olympic freestyle wrestling team in 1996 and 2000.

Pribis carries a 3.80 grade point average and has been wrestling only since eighth grade. He had a 13-17 varsity record before turning in a 26-11 record as a junior 160-pounder last season.

He took part in camps at Eastern Michigan and Ohio State during the offseason last year. He recently returned from the 14-day University of Minnesota wrestling camp, held at Edinboro University.

"I'm impressed by how focused and dedicated toward wrestling Matt has become," Butler coach Scott Stoner said. "He's been to four of the toughest camps out there over the past year.

"Ohio State was second in the country the year he attended their camp. Now he's learning from an Olympic coach. ... I'm loving this."

Pribis said the 14-day camp at Edinboro was the biggest mental and physical challenge of his life.

"It was incredibly grueling," he said. "Four practices every day, lasting anywhere from 1Z\x to 2Z\x hours each. You were still tired from the last practice when the next one started.

"A lot of guys were complaining and some guys quit. What I was gaining from that camp was all the motivation I needed," he added. "I would have rather died than quit."

The camp started with 200 participants. Twenty quit and others didn't accumulate enough points to graduate from the camp.

"The coaches kept close watch of every wrestler at every practice. If you slacked off, you lost points," Pribis said. "You had to have so many points to graduate.

"My skills, my attitude, my toughness and conditioning are double what they were before that camp."

Stoner said campers had to write about their experiences in a journal every day.

"The coaches really focused on the mental side of the sport up there," he said.

Pribis is a defensive end on the Butler football team and runs the 800 meters in track. He decided to try wrestling as an eighth-grader "because I kept fouling out in basketball."

Pribis lost only two matches during his eighth-grade season.

"He was a physical, aggressive kid who took advantage of those attributes right away," Stoner said. "That immediate success built confidence and motivation."

Pribis wants to become a Navy SEAL because of the versatility of that branch.

"Sea, air, ground — those guys are everywhere and have to be able to do everything," he said. "That's the type of serviceman I want to be.

"Having worked with Division I wrestlers, I believe those athletes are in the best physical condition of any college athlete," he added. "That's why I'm staying with wrestling: for that type of conditioning."