Mon, Nov 23 2009
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Star Beacon All-Ashtabula County Mat: Gilchrist made history Jefferson great the first county wrestler to place three times at the state meet and piled up 174 victories KARL PEARSONStar Beacon “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. 
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