JEFFERSON — Taking it to the next level is what Kyle Gilchrist is all about.

As an athlete, especially as a wrestler, the Jefferson High School graduate has been taking it to the next level throughout his career. At the same time, he’s managed to take his academic side to a high level, too.

Now, as he gets ready to head off to Columbia University in mid-August to begin preparing for NCAA Division I wrestling and the challenge of maintaining excellence at an Ivy League school, he finds himself having to concern himself with stepping it up a notch again.

The ability of the son of Debbi and Iain Gilchrist to keep stepping up has resulted in countless awards at the local, state and national level. It has helped him earn one more award, selection as the Star Beacon’s Outstanding Scholar-Athlete for the 2008-09 season.

Gilchrist was also chosen the Outstanding Winter Scholar-Athlete earlier this year. Other finalists were Outstanding Fall Scholar-Athlete Raymond Holmes of Pymatuning Valley and Outstanding Spring Scholar-Athlete Katie McMellen of Edgewood.

“This is an outstanding award,” he said. “I’m really honored to receive it. It’s great to receive it considering I was up against two such excellent scholar-athletes as Katie and Raymond. They deserve it as much as anybody.

“When you consider all the competitive people to be chosen from, this is really a great honor. I was very surprised and I’m very pleased.”

But Gilchrist is highly qualified for such an award. He became the first Ashtabula County wrestler to place in the top four of his weight class three straight years at the state tournament, placing fourth in his junior and senior years after placing second at 103 pounds as a sophomore. His 175 career victories are tied for 15th all-time among Ohio high school wrestlers.

He is the first wrestler to be chosen Star Beacon Ashtabula County Wrestler of the Year three times. He also was a three-time Division II sectional champion and placed for four years at the prestigious Bill Dies Memorial Tournament.

Now, he will take his talents to Columbia, one of the emerging powers in wrestling, not just in the Ivy League, but on a national scale. He has already spent some time over the summer getting acquainted with his new teammates and the environment he will enter at the university located on the edge of New York City.

Classes at Columbia are not scheduled to begin until Aug. 24, but he will be getting there earlier for scheduling and to get acclimated. The season for the Lions of coach Brendan Buckley will begin in the middle of October.

“I’m really excited about the fall,” Gilchrist said. “I’m looking forward to working with all the coaches and my new team.

“A lot of the team was there earlier this summer. We had a chance to check out some things about New York. The campus is about a five- or 10-minute subway ride from Times Square. We got a little bit acquainted with the subway, but there’s a lot to learn.”

One of the attractions of the Columbia program to Gilchrist is the opportunity to work with assistant coach Matt Valente, a two-time NCAA champion for one of Columbia’s rivals, the University of Pennsylvania. Gilchrist is hoping Valente will help him excel at the next level.

“I know he’ll be there for at least my first two years there,” Gilchrist said. “I’m looking forward to working with him.”