The Dean of Ledyard Wrestling

Wrestlers make tremendous sacrifices during the course of a season to trim pounds and qualify for the lowest weight division possible.

For Ledyard High senior Dean Gilbert, he sacrificed more than fast food, desserts and sugar. A football linebacker during his sophomore and junior seasons, Gilbert bypassed a chance to be captain, sitting out the season to focus on gradually trimming 25-plus pounds to compete at 145 pounds in his final wrestling season.

The decision has paid off. Gilbert carries the best individual record (22-2) for the fourth-ranked Colonels (17-1).

"I want to make that board (Ledyard's infamous Wall of Fame in the team's practice 'Bomb Shelter' in the school basement)," Gilbert said. "I felt if I wanted to accomplish all my goals in wrestling, winning a state title and wrestling in college, this was the way to go."

Only state champions' names are listed on the Wall of Fame. Gilbert showed early promise, finishing fourth at 140 pounds as a sophomore in 2009. A knee injury put a damper on his junior season. With one last chance this year, Gilbert put all of his eggs on one basket.

"It's tough coming off a football season, then jumping into wrestling," Gilbert said. "We have a few who do it, but I chose not to. Last year toward the end of football, I was around 173 pounds and started dropping weight. I made me less stronger and couldn't do some things in football that I was able to early. This year, I was around 158 in November, so it wasn't as hard to drop the weight for wrestling.

"Losing weight is a pain," Gilbert said. "You eat one thing like a cookie and you put on two pounds. In the summer, I love Wendy's Bacon-aters. That's all I used to eat during summer."

Gilbert started his diet of six small meals a day much earlier this fall: Egg-beaters, carrots, a small sandwich. Limited liquids. He plans to continue the healthy lifestyle past high school.

Gilbert has applied to the Coast Guard Academy, banking that his academic record of making the honor roll, serving on the student congress and his stellar wrestling career will land him an appointment.

"I hope to go to the Coast Guard Academy and wrestle there, so I don't want to bloat up and be out of shape," Gilbert said. "I love boats and seeing how their engines are built, having been around the water most of my life, growing up in Alaska."

While January's record snow has disturbed the natural flow of life in Ledyard, causing seven cancelled school days, it's nothing new for Gilbert.

"In Alaska it wouldn't just snow then it would immediately rain because we lived on an island, so everything would freeze," Gilbert said. "But there were never any school cancellations. They were used to it out there and had snow removal down to a science."

An honor roll student and a LHS Student Congress member, Gilbert hopes his scholastic resume, coupled with his lineage -- his father was a Coast Guard teacher --will land him an appointment.

Until then, he has some unfinished business this month at the ECC and Class M tournaments. After losing by pin in his season opener to Killingly's Zach Cooke, Gilbert has lost only to Xavier's Tyler Cunningham, the state's top ranked 145-p0under.

"The opening loss was a fluke," said Gilbert, who got caught in a cross-faced cradle. "I look forward to seeing him in the ECCs." Fitch's Cameron Gonzalez, a Class L champ last year, will also be an obstable. Gilbert beat Gonzalez, 6-3, in a dual meet this year.

Ledyard coach Steve Bilheimer listed "leadership" and "determination" as Gilbert's finest qualities in his quest for a state championship and Coast Guard appointment. He believes Gilbert can achieve his goal of carving his name of the Wall of Fame.

"I feel that he has a chance to win everything," Bilheimer said. "He will have his work cut out for him at the Class M, but I think he can beat the Plainville kid he lost to at the Bristol tournament. I feel that he is capable of beating anyone in the state. He just has to go out and do it."

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