Two time wrestling state champion, Conner Vickery from Kemmerer High School, is using a raffle in order to raise money for an opportunity to go wrestle and train in Greece.

The junior qualified to be on the Wyoming National Team who is using this cultural exchange program to send athletes to the European country to practice in different styles of the sport. He has to raise $4400 and the trip is in mid-June.

“Basically we fly out to Greece,” Vickery said. “We train with the international Greece team and a couple of other European teams there.”

He says raising the funds and training in different styles is his main focus right now. In the United States you commonly see Folkstyle, but he will be practicing and learning other types of wrestling.

“The main difference between (folkstyle) and freestyle is the scoring,” Vickery said. “You score more points for bigger throws and you don’t wrestle off bottom. You just try not to get turned for five seconds and then they bring you back up to your feet.

“And Greco is just the same as freestyle, but you can’t attack a defender with your legs.”

He says the raffle tickets are $20 each and there are different rewards you can get. You can either get rewarded a gun or money if you do not want the weapon. The rewards are: 22-250 gun or $450 cash, Remington 7mm or $690 cash, Glock 9mm or $470 cash, Remington 45 ACP or $650, and Ruger American 17 HMR or $410 cash.

He says it is all set up through the Wyoming Amateur Wrestling Association. To purchase a ticket to enter the raffle you can contact him at (307) 333-3848.

He wants to get better and hopefully earn himself a third state title.

“I’ve been wrestling for almost 14 years,” Vickery said. “My whole life my goal was to be a two-timer, but you know then I just started getting better and better. Three state titles is such a big deal to me.”

After that he hopes to wrestle somewhere in college and has some schools he is looking at.