Glenville State’s 133-pound Gavin Quiocho, observed right here earlier this year, won the school’s initial national wrestling championship on final Saturday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Photo courtesy of Glenville State University Athletics)
PARKERSBURG — Final Saturday at the NCAA Division II wrestling championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Glenville State University sophomore Gavin Quiocho walked off the mat inside Alliant Power PowerHouse with a four-three national title victory at 133 pounds soon after topping Chadron State’s Quentrevion Campbell.
The former Parkersburg South wrestler and Robert Dutton Award winner capped off his 39-five campaign by becoming the Pioneers’ initial national champion as effectively as the initial All-American.
“He did a truly excellent job of riding and becoming stingy,” stated GSU head coach Dylan Cottrell, who watched Quiocho earn his winning point by way of riding time. “If you would’ve told me or Gavin final year that he’d won a national title and it was going to be on riding time we would’ve laughed.
“We worked a lot obtaining much better at major and becoming in a position to ride. That is what we worked on all season. Coach (Jonathan) Andreatta place a lot of time in and he place a lot of time in as effectively. Dropping down to 133 produced it less complicated for the reason that he’s not wrestling six-foot tall guys who have leverage on him.”
Quiocho, who opened final year at 157 ahead of settling in at 149, was joined in the finals by heavyweight Jared Campbell, who had to settle for runner-up honors as he capped a 32-two campaign.
The Pioneers completed ninth as a group. Guy Deleonardis (165) and Cole Houser (184) lost in the blood round and have been every single a victory away from becoming All-Americans. GSU 141-pounder Ethan Hardy went -two at nationals.
“I believe we have been basically additional confident with Jared producing the finals rather than Gavin,” admitted coach Cottrell of his pair of No. three seeds. “Jared had a fantastic run and had the returning national champ in the quarters and he beat him undesirable.”
Just after returning to Glenville, Quiocho stated “I gave my physique a couple of days of rest, but I got back to it Thursday. Lifting and wrestling and beginning to get additional into strategy to increase subsequent season.”
Understanding he wanted to compete in a reduced weight class, Quiocho set his purpose and stated he came back to campus final fall weighing about 150 pounds.
“What I did essentially was I took that extended preseason obtaining down to a manageable weight exactly where I could get inside striking distance,” added the Pioneer.
“To get down every single week I’d have to run at least two occasions a day on major of practice and lifts, and at most if I necessary to 4 occasions a day. It was a grind.”
The ex-Patriot admitted the most hard aspect of it all was the mental side of points rather than the physical.
“A massive point this year was just trusting in God, believing in myself and the instruction I was performing,” Quiocho stated. “Mental-sensible, I have in no way felt so excellent.
“I was in no way nervous for any of my matches this year. I was calm, had a clear thoughts and it truly helped my wrestling to figure out the mental aspect of points.”
With two years nonetheless remaining at Glenville State, Quiocho absolutely has a vibrant future. His coach is hoping to challenge for a national group championship in the not also distant future.
“The commence of the season our group purpose was a major ten finish at NCAAs,” Cottrell stated. “Did I believe that was going to take place? I believed we have been additional in the breaking into the major 15 group this year, but we had a truly excellent tournament. You in no way know with these points for the reason that they are so close. I knew we could be major ten if we wrestled truly effectively and we did. We had a fantastic weekend. That is what we want to do each year. I had a D1 guy come in currently (Friday) from WVU and I got some other truly excellent D2 guys coming in the subsequent two weeks.
“Hunter DeLong (174) and Cole Houser are graduating and we’re operating to fill these two holes initial. We got a lot coming back and we are truly excited about some of the guys who didn’t get to wrestle this year. Hardy, Quiocho, Campbell and Guy are back. Jordan Williams has been nationally-ranked the final two years and occurred to catch an injury this year. We anticipate to commence subsequent year as a major 5 group in the nation.”
Regardless of possessing a higher degree of good results at Parkersburg South, moving to the D2 ranks and adjusting to the expectations in the matroom took some time to get adjusted to.
“I would say the greatest point is in college our coaches are fantastic, just like in higher college, but they have a tiny additional emphasis on what we want to do individually,” Quiocho stated. “That’s virtually what it is all about. Just after wins and losses we are constantly enhancing on every single match primarily based off points that we necessary to do much better or alter up, and that is what we’d perform on all week.
“Compared to higher college, we educated truly really hard and we have been at the major for the reason that of how really hard we worked. In college, you have some older guys and you cannot truly do that intensity like we did in higher college for the entirety of the year. There’s a massive distinction in peaking at the ideal time. In college, that is a massive aspect. When you are in higher college you are a kid and you are young and you can train as really hard as you can and your physique nonetheless may well really feel excellent.”
Following his Saturday morning semifinal triumph, Quiocho had about a seven hour gap ahead of it was time to go for a national championship.
“Basically what I did in that time to prepare myself was to clear my thoughts, not even believe about wrestling. Just obtaining rested,” he stated. “I didn’t even watch like film on him. The only tiny bit of point I knew about him was he likes to go massive so just watch out for the throws.
“I just really feel truly grateful for the plan that I’ve been led to and the coaches I’ve been led to. In particular our assistant coach (Andreatta). He was the 133-pound national champ (at Adams State) final year. He truly helped me out this year. It is just been a truly thankful encounter.”
Make contact with Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com
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