RAPID CITY - Rapid City Central wrestler Chad Gibson is the type of athlete that lifts an entire program.

Gibson, a senior 189-pounder, won the Region 4AA title at his weight class for the second straight year on Saturday. The win moved him to

42-5 this season and also got him named the Rapid City Journal Athlete of the Week.

"You've got to get through regions to get to state, that's all I was thinking," Gibson said of the win last weekend in Box Elder. "I mean, regions are No. 1 and state is No. 2. Now, I'm worrying about state."

It's that kind of focus, on and off the mat, that his head coach sees as Gibson's best attribute.

"He's exactly what you, as a coach, look for in a senior captain," Rapid City Central head coach Lance Pearson said. "He's one of those kids where it (success) didn't come easy for him. He's gotten himself to where he's at because he loves the sport, loves the competition, loves practice, he just loves everything about the sport. To me, that's exactly what you're looking for when you're looking for a wrestler."

Gibson is a Cobbler through and through. The all-Greater Dakota Conference offensive lineman for the Central football team also helps as much as he can with the Cobbler Kids wrestling program. The experience with the youngsters, including his 6-year-old brother, Zane, has given Gibson an idea of what he'd like to do when he finishes college.

"I want to go into elementary education," Gibson, who has been in contact with the Northern State and Dickinson State wrestling programs, said. "That sounds like it might not be the greatest, but I work with the Cobbler Kids and I just like being around little kids. I came up through the program and I just feel like I need to give back, since what they did for me. I mean, I haven't been in there for a while because of regions and state and everything, but I really like to do it. Plus, my little brother is in it, so that gives you a little boost."

Gibson already sees big things on the horizon for the youngest of his four brothers.

"Of course, he's going to be the 145-pound state champ his junior year," Gibson said when asked if the younger brother was going to become a better wrestler than his older one. "I've already got it all planned out for him."

Gibson, who finished fifth at 189 pounds at last year's Class A wrestling tournament, has some plans of his own with the state tournament taking place this weekend in Aberdeen.

"I want to finish in the top three," Gibson said. "I mean, I'd love to get into the championship match, but I just want to go and wrestle hard and see what happens."

Gibson didn't want to know what the draw looked like in his weight class, but some of his teammates ruined that for him.

"My teammates told me my draw, that I didn't want to know, today," Gibson said. "It looks like I've got the Canton kid (Senior Tigh Faehnreich, 38-2 record) in the (quarterfinals) so I've got to bring my 'A' game right away, I can't wait. I've just got to wrestle tough from the get-go. It's the state tournament, so you're always going to have to have tough matches right at the beginning, but I didn't expect it that soon."

No matter what happens this weekend in Aberdeen, Gibson's impact on the Cobbler wrestling room is one that will last long after this season.

"You always have those kids that have a ton of potential, but for whatever reason, whether it's the coach, the kid or just the mesh between the two, you don't ever get their full potential out of them. With Chad, I think we're getting his full potential out of him and maybe a little more. He's one of those kids that is really open to what you tell him. When you ask him to do something, that's what he does, and that's great because you can always refer to that. When you first get into coaching until you get a couple of state champs, or a couple of kids that have some success, even as a coach you start to ask yourself, 'Am I doing this right? Did we do that right?' The last few years have really given us some confirmation.

"Then you get a kid like Chad, who does everything that you ask him to do and has some success, and the other kids see that and start to think, 'Well, maybe coach isn't full of beans.'"