He speaks in a soft voice, barely above a whisper.

On the mat, though, his wrestling speaks volumes.Jim Thorpe's Kevan Gentile may not be much of a conversationalist, but this past season he certainly made statement after statement after statement.Besides claiming district and regional championships, the junior capped off an outstanding campaign with a fourth-place state medal in the 103-pound class. Thanks to those accomplishments, he has been named the Times News Wrestler of the Year."He's quiet but he's competitive," said Olympian head coach Shawn Albert. "What I've noticed about Kevan over the past three years, at least as a high school wrestler, is that Kevan knows that there's only one person that can really stop him. And that's him."He's confident. I wouldn't say he's cocky, but he's got that mental edge that no one's going to beat him. As his head coach, to see that during the postseason was really evident. When Kevan was on, when he was confident, there was no chance he was going to lose."For most of the year, Gentile didn't lose. He finished with an impressive 44-3 record and met his offseason goal."Yeah, it was my goal to get to states," said Gentile, who just missed out on a trip to Hershey during his 36-8 sophomore year. "I did a lot more offseason work to prepare for this season and went to more tournaments."I thought I was going to do pretty good this year. ... I had no idea what the outcome was going to be, but I was hoping to make it there."Gentile's motivation to get to states was driven even more after the Schuylkill League tournament. While there, he suffered his first loss of the season when he was called for an illegal slam."I was beating him by a lot and the takedown would have given me a tech fall. ... But anything can happen," Gentile said. "You just have to put it behind you. It sort of made me push a lot harder during the rest of the year.""It's one of those calls where it's in the hands of the officials," Albert said. "Was he disappointed and were we as coaches disappointed? Absolutely. But it fueled him. There's a kid who won every match in the regular season except that one. That stuck in the back of his mind and I know it did ours as well. It absolutely fueled him."Gentile posted win after win following his third-place at leagues. The junior captured districts, taking three of the four bouts by fall. He did the same at regionals, with one of those falls coming during the championship round.At states, his experience began with a first-round pin, but it was followed by a one-point loss in the quarterfinals. Three straight consolation victories, including his 100th career win, came after that to propel him into the third-place bout. Another close defeat, this one by two points, forced the Olympian to settle for fourth.That fourth-place showing, though, matched the best finish at states by a Jim Thorpe wrestler (Mike Wernett also placed fourth in 2000)."It's a great experience at states but there's a lot of pressure," said Gentile, who is also the first Olympian grappler to receive the TN award in its 24 years of existence. "It feels great being there. If someone told me at the beginning of the season I would finish fourth at states, I'd have been happy with it. But I would probably have it in the back of my mind that I'd want to finish higher. I want to get back there and do a lot better.""As long as he continues to do what he did last offseason, which is going through all the training, and continues to push himself by facing tough competition, then yeah (he has a shot at a state title)," said Albert. "I have no doubt in my mind. He lost his two matches (at states) by only three points."Gentile first became interested in wrestling when he was in kindergarten. Brian Ohl, a Jim Thorpe grappler at the time, spoke to his class, and it didn't take long for him to fall in love with the sport.That love affair grew over the years, and it continues even stronger today.Just weeks after the season ended, Gentile was already preparing for his senior year by heading to Weaver Elite at Bethlehem Catholic High School. He also plans to be on a club team over the summer."He wrestles year-round, probably 11 out of 12 months," Albert said. "He's wrestling guys who are state qualifiers, state place-winners. And he'll be competing on the club team. He'll be wrestling some of the top guys in the country."Gentile is hoping to be the top guy on Jim Thorpe's career wins list, which is currently 141 held by Dillon Smith. With the talent he possesses on the mat, there's a good chance that will happen."I think he knows his strong points," Albert said. "He's very tough on top. Once he's on top he knows he's got a very good shot of winning his matches. If you ask me what his style is, number one is he wants to get on top of a guy and he'll be able to overpower him. He's probably a little defensive sometimes on his feet, but once he gets to the mat top or bottom but particularly on top it's his game."I'm already excited for next year."