Star Beacon All-Ashtabula County Mat: Gilchrist made history

KARL PEARSON
Star Beacon

March 13, 2008 03:35 am

— A Karl Pearson column...

It’s still rather difficult for Kyle Gilchrist to feel really good about all that he has accomplished during his four varsity wrestling seasons at Jefferson High School.
It probably will take at least several years for him to truly appreciate what he has achieved.
Despite compiling a record no other Ashtabula County wrestler can match by placing three straight years at the state tournament, there is still the knowledge that he didn’t achieve his ultimate goal, that of being a state champion. It seems there will always be that lingering sense of disappointment.
To be sure, the son of Debbi and Iain Gilchrist is proud of what he has done. But he can’t get past that feeling that he fell just a bit short of his own high standards. Try as one might to get him to find solace in all that he has accomplished, they can’t get him past that sense that he still didn’t reach the goal he has focused on for the past three seasons, in particular.
Informed that he is the first wrestler to be chosen Star Beacon Ashtabula County Wrestler of the Year, Gilchrist is pleased to learn of his place in history. But there’s still that underlying sense of disappointment.
“I’m proud of that accomplishment,” he said. “I know there have been a lot of great wrestlers come through this county over the years. But I’m still disappointed I didn’t achieve my goal.
“I think it is something special to place three years at state. Overall, I guess my career has been pretty good, but things just didn’t work out in trying to reach my goal.”
He must be content to realize he did his utmost to become only Ashtabula County’s fifth state champion and its first since Grand Valley’s Bobby Jones did so in 1984 at 132 pounds in Class AA, even though it didn’t work out.
“Even though I worked my hardest and gave it my best effort, it just wasn’t in the works for me,” Gilchrist (48-3 this year) said.
Almost forgotten in it all is the realization Gilchrist’s records stack up very well against the very best wrestlers that Ohio, arguably the best high school wrestling state in the country, has produced. With the conclusion of the 2007-08 season, Gilchrist racked up 174 victories in his career, which ranks him in a tie for 15th all-time in the state through results compiled by the Ohio High School Athletic Association through Jan. 3, 2008.
There’s also the notion Gilchrist has held his own better than any other wrestler in Ohio against the boy many people consider the best wrestler in the state at this time, St. Paris Graham junior David Taylor. There are many people who feel Taylor may one day be considered the greatest wrestler Ohio has ever produced.
That assertion comes from the fact Gilchrist is the only wrestler in Taylor’s march to three straight state championships who has wrestled a full six-minute match against the Graham standout. That happened in 2006, when Gilchrist, then a sophomore, tangled with Taylor, then a freshman, for the Division II title at 103 pounds. Even though Gilchrist lost that match, no other wrestler before or since has pushed Taylor to a full match at state.
“My dad said that I’d been the only one to wrestle him for six minutes,” Gilchrist said. “I guess that’s something I can take pride in. Years from now, I might be able to say I did a good job against a guy who was a world champion or an Olympic gold medalist.
“I have had a lot of success, too. There are a lot of other ways that my career has been satisfying.”
But then there’s the thought that creeps in that what seemed to augur a potential state championship for Gilchrist during his career after that match just didn’t happen. Instead, he had to settle for highly respectable fourth-place finishes at 112 pounds as a junior and 119 pounds this year. That’s where the disappointment returns.
“I just didn’t reach my goal,” he said.
It has been brought home forcefully to Gilchrist that reaching the pinnacle of any sport also requires its share of good fortune, no matter how much work has been put in toward that goal.
“I think there’s always luck involved,” he said. “The ref can make a bad call or something else can go wrong.”
It is left to others to evaluate Gilchrist in a more positive light. Nobody respects him more than his coach at Jefferson, Tom Avsec. Together, along with Iain Gilchrist, they have been on an adventure that has included all kinds of highs and lows.
“I have definitely been fortunate to work with a kid like Kyle, a kid who’s the complete package,” the coach said. “Not only is he a great wrestler, but he’s a great (4.0) student and just a great kid.
“I definitely feel like I’ve been blessed, getting the chance to go to state with him three times and see him win two (Bill) Dies Tournament (one of Ohio’s best events outside of the state meet) championships. These have been some of the best three years of my life. It has definitely been worth all of it.”
It was a stroke of fortune that Avsec had the opportunity. He really was in a great situation as an assistant coach for Dwight Fritz at Geneva, but he felt the pull of a Jefferson program that was desperately in need of help.
“I was definitely comfortable at Geneva working with Dwight and (assistant coach) Dave (Ungrady),” he said. “I came to Jefferson because of the challenge. Then having Kyle take second my first year was really something. It has definitely been a great ride.”
In ways, Avsec spent the time immediately after Gilchrist’s finish this year beating himself up that he had not provided enough opportunities for Gilchrist to push himself to a state title. Gilchrist said that is far from the case.
“Coach Avsec has been great for me,” he said. “He did everything he could to help me. I appreciate all the hard work he put me through. There’s nothing more he could have done, from my perspective.”
One of the things that bothered Avsec was there was not enough competition in the Jefferson wrestling room to challenge Gilchrist, either. Again, Gilchrist demurs.
“Looking back on it, I think Jefferson wrestling gave me all that it could give me,” he said. “I was able to drill with guys like Brandon Kidd and Eric Hargesheimer, heavier wrestlers who really made me work. Jefferson gave me all it could.”
To that regimen, Gilchrist added frequent trips, especially this year, to Perry to drill with wrestlers like the Pirates’ 112-pound junior Nate Westfall, another area wrestler who can identify with his frustrations, having placed fourth once and sixth twice in his first three years of wrestling. Gilchrist profited from Westfall’s experience in other ways, too, especially from his decision to transfer to Perry this year after competing his first two years at Lake Catholic.
“I debated going to Lake Catholic a couple years ago, but I chose to stay at Jefferson because all my friends were here and I was comfortable here,” Gilchrist said. “I think Nate found out the same things, that he was happier being back at Perry with his friends instead of being unhappy at Lake Catholic.”
Now, Gilchrist has turned his sights to preparing for his education and wrestling at Columbia University, a fine Division I program. He intends to channel his disappointment to what he hopes can be bigger things in the Ivy League and at the NCAA level.
“Definitely, (his disappointment) will drive me,” he said. “I’m going to work my butt off for the next four years. I want to try and be an NCAA champion.”
Gilchrist hopes other wrestlers that follow him might benefit from the lessons of his career. He has words of advice for them.
“No matter what happens, don’t take your eyes off your goal,” he said. “Chances are, you’re going to fail at some point, but you have to keep on trying.”

Pearson is the wrestling beat writer for the Star Beacon. Reach him at kpearson@starbeacon.com.

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