Glenville State’s 133-pound Gavin Quiocho, noticed right here earlier this year, won the school’s very first 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 right 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’ very first national champion as effectively as the very first All-American.

“He did a actually great job of riding and getting stingy,” stated GSU head coach Dylan Cottrell, who watched Quiocho earn his winning point by means 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 acquiring improved at leading and getting capable 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 difficult simply because he’s not wrestling six-foot tall guys who have leverage on him.”

Quiocho, who opened final year at 157 prior to 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 had been every single a victory away from becoming All-Americans. GSU 141-pounder Ethan Hardy went -two at nationals.

“I feel we had been truly additional confident with Jared creating the finals rather than Gavin,” admitted coach Cottrell of his pair of No. three seeds. “Jared had a excellent run and had the returning national champ in the quarters and he beat him undesirable.”

Following returning to Glenville, Quiocho stated “I gave my physique a handful of days of rest, but I got back to it Thursday. Lifting and wrestling and beginning to get additional into approach to increase subsequent season.”

Realizing he wanted to compete in a reduce weight class, Quiocho set his target and stated he came back to campus final fall weighing about 150 pounds.

“What I did essentially was I took that lengthy preseason acquiring 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 instances a day on leading of practice and lifts, and at most if I necessary to 4 instances a day. It was a grind.”

The ex-Patriot admitted the most tricky aspect of it all was the mental side of items rather than the physical.

“A huge issue 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 great.

“I was in no way nervous for any of my matches this year. I was calm, had a clear thoughts and it actually helped my wrestling to figure out the mental aspect of items.”

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 as well distant future.

“The get started of the season our group target was a leading ten finish at NCAAs,” Cottrell stated. “Did I feel that was going to occur? I believed we had been additional in the breaking into the leading 15 group this year, but we had a actually great tournament. You in no way know with these items simply because they are so close. I knew we could be leading ten if we wrestled actually effectively and we did. We had a excellent weekend. That is what we want to do each year. I had a D1 guy come in these days (Friday) from WVU and I got some other actually great D2 guys coming in the subsequent two weeks.

“Hunter DeLong (174) and Cole Houser are graduating and we’re functioning to fill these two holes very first. We got a lot coming back and we are actually 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 get started subsequent year as a leading 5 group in the nation.”

Regardless of obtaining a higher degree of 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 issue is in college our coaches are excellent, just like in higher college, but they have a small additional emphasis on what we will need to do individually,” Quiocho stated. “That’s pretty much what it is all about. Following wins and losses we are generally enhancing on every single match primarily based off items that we necessary to do improved or modify up, and that is what we’d operate on all week.

“Compared to higher college, we educated actually difficult and we had been at the leading simply because of how difficult we worked. In college, you have some older guys and you can not actually do that intensity like we did in higher college for the entirety of the year. There’s a huge distinction in peaking at the appropriate time. In college, that is a huge aspect. When you are in higher college you are a kid and you are young and you can train as difficult as you can and your physique nonetheless may well really feel great.”

Following his Saturday morning semifinal triumph, Quiocho had about a seven hour gap prior to 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 feel about wrestling. Just acquiring rested,” he stated. “I didn’t even watch like film on him. The only small bit of issue I knew about him was he likes to go huge so just watch out for the throws.

“I just really feel actually grateful for the system 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 actually helped me out this year. It is just been a actually thankful encounter.”

Speak to Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Today’s breaking news and additional in your inbox