Parkersburg South senior Gage Wright signs a National Letter of Intent to continue his wrestling career at Virginia Tech Thursday. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Gage Wright, the 40th annual Robert Dutton Award winner who also was named the Mountain State’s Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award recipient, had his ceremony to attend Virginia Tech on Thursday afternoon at Parkersburg South High School.

“It’s sad that it’s over,” admitted Wright, a four-time state mat champion and two-time Class AAA first team all-state honoree on the gridiron.

“It flew by real quick, but I’m looking forward to competing with the top guys at the next level and kind of showing everyone what I have and what I have to prove.”

Wright, who became the 25th four-time state champion in the history of West Virginia, represented the Patriots for the final time at the 50th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic where he helped the United States All-Stars defeat the Pennsylvania All-Stars.

“It was pretty cool getting to hang out with some of the top guys in the country,” Wright said. “We were just doing the sport we like, wrestling.

“It was pretty cool because we practiced together and stayed in the same hotel and had to ride a bus over to the place and got our own locker room and stuff like that.”

The Patriot didn’t advance out of the regional voting for the Schultz Award, but he was more than pleased to receive the state honor.

“It was a little surprising,” he said of being selected. “There’s a lot of good wrestlers in West Virginia, but it meant a lot getting the award and I’m kind of just grateful that I got it.”

Aside from the Hokies, Wright’s final choices also included Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and N.C. State.

Wright, who carries a 3.2 GPA, said he has to be on campus at the end of June and his first day of mandatory summer school is July 1.

“I’m starting off with my summer classes, property management, and then after that I’m going to work into business,” admitted Wright, who added “probably sales, something in that” when asked what he might do after college.

Along with winning titles at the Ironman and Powerade, the Patriot became West Virginia’s 25th four-time state champion.

“I’m pretty excited to go to Virginia Tech,” Wright admitted. “It’s going to be pretty upsetting not being around my friends as much and all that stuff, and going my separate path. I’m pretty excited. If they really want they can come and visit.”

The Hokies also wanted Wright to compete on the gridiron, but the wrestling program would rather him just stick to the mat.

“I would’ve given it a shot,” he said. “It would have been hard with school and two sports, but I definitely would’ve given it a shot. There’s a pretty big chance of that (redshirt).

“They are just going to put me in there and see how well I can do while I compete. You get five tournaments and you can still redshirt.”

Currently, Wright said he’s just been lifting, fishing and “trying to spend more time with family and friends.”

The Patriot concluded his career with 105 mat slappers. He went 49-1 in his final campaign and had a career record of 149-8.

“It flew by really, really fast, but I had a really fun time spending time with like my childhood friends I grew up wrestling with,” admitted the Ohio Valley Athlete Conference Bierkortte Award winner, who was named the OVAC Wrestler of the Year for W.Va. “We went through middle school. A lot of us were at Edison and if we weren’t at Edison then we were at Blennerhassett. We still got to talk and stuff like that.

“We practiced at the Patriot Club, so we all pretty much have known each other since we were like 9, 10. I think that helped us a lot, just in like sports-wise. Like even football and especially wrestling, just knowing that our teammates have each others backs no matter what. Just basically being there with your buddies. It kind of makes the year go by quicker, which is good but bad. Other than that it’s been a blast.”

Wright, who owns the school record with 18 quick pins (10 seconds or less), was impressed with his soon to be living quarters in Blacksburg.

“They actually got a really, really nice freshman dorm,” he said. “All the freshmen athletes are in there. It’s like an actual apartment.

“It’s super nice. Everyone has their own bed. We got a kitchen, obviously, a living room and they kind of have it all decked out.”

The Curt Warner Award runner-up for the state’s top running back, Wright gave a lot of credit for his success to all his coaches, especially PSHS head man Shaun Smith.

“He helped me out a lot, especially my freshman year,” Wright explained. “He pushed me a lot, just mentally and physically. He just made sure that my head was always right.

“Especially, I think it helped me this year when I had close matches at Ironman and that type of stuff. It made me just know that I’ve been in this situation before in the mat room and that everything was just going to be OK, that I could push through it and be perfectly fine.”

A member of two Class AAA state championship teams at Parkersburg South, the Patriot hopes to have similar success at Virginia Tech.

“I want to try and make a run team-wise,” he said. “I want to try and get a national title as a team and then I want to try and be a four-time NCAA champion.”

As far as what he needs to improve upon he admitted “probably my cardio. I got to get that up and really just small stuff I need to fix. Obviously, small stuff goes a long way.

“Just a lot of stuff on my feet. Staying in position better, getting to my attacks quicker and then getting off bottom smoother and not being held down with riding time, and then my offense on top.”

Wright also admitted as far as hanging up the cleats go “it was a good run.”

The Patriot, who helped his team to a state runner-up finish in football as a junior, replied the following when asked what advice he’d give to aspiring wrestlers “really, just keep working.

“Anything in life is possible as long as you work, like, to get toward that goal. There’s nothing that’s not possible to do as long as you have your mind to it and give glory to God through everything.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com