Top of his class

KARL PEARSON
Star Beacon

August 05, 2008 12:47 am

— 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.”
There will also be plenty of competition within the squad as Gilchrist moves up to 125 pounds, the lowest weight in college wrestling.
“They recruited another kid from Washington at my weight, too,” he said. “They also brought in two guys at 133, so there should be plenty of great workout partners in the wrestling room. The wrestleoffs are going to be pretty tough. It’s going to be a challenge.”
Of course, the real reason Gilchrist is at Columbia is to get a quality education. Balancing the demands of the academic load at an Ivy League university along with all the expectations of a Division I athlete will test him.
“To compete in Division I and to juggle the academics is demanding a lot,” he said. “It’s like a job.
“If I make the team, we’ll have a trip to California and we’ll be wrestling out at the Las Vegas Invitational. We travel a lot. I guess it will be a test of time management and how good my skills at it are. I guess my main concern is about how to balance all the course work and wrestling.”
He’s always shown the ability to handle the time demands before. Gilchrist not only excelled in wrestling, but also lettered four years in soccer, serving as a team captain and earning Star Beacon Ashtabula County and Coaches’ All-Northeastern Conference honors. He also was a key component of Jefferson’s NEC championship and Division II district qualifying baseball team as an infielder.
Still, Gilchrist managed to maintain a 4.0 grade-point average and finish at the top of his graduating class of 195 at Jefferson. He also earned four academic excellence awards and participated in the post-secondary options program at Kent State University-Ashtabula Campus. He was a member of National Honor Society, too.
He is grateful for all the support he received from his family, especially his parents. His father, an accomplished wrestler in his own right, was an assistant coach for Tom Avsec at Jefferson and also worked with his team at the AAU nationals.
“I rely owe a lot to my parents for all their support,” Gilchrist said. “They’ve done so much for me.”
The support systems also include his sister, Amanda, who worked as a statistician for the wrestling team, and his grandparents. He knows he will rely upon them in the task that lies ahead, as well as his teammates, coaches and community members in Jefferson, as well as coaches and competitors from other schools.
“I want to thank all my friends, my family and everybody in the community for all their support,” Gilchrist said. “I loved being at Jefferson and competing around this area.”
Now, he’d like to take it to the next level at Columbia. Gilchrist has a number of goals he’d like to achieve.
“I want to make the varsity team first,” he said. “Then I’d like to try and do well in our conference and, hopefully, do something at nationals. That’s everybody’s goal.
“Everybody is tough at this level. I know it will be tough, but I think I’m ready for it.”

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.