March 22, 2024/Midnight
Erie, Pa., — March 19, 2024- The Golden Knights won the Super Regional 1 team title as well as having 8 out of ten total wrestlers qualify for Nationals. Senior Nick Coreno was seeded fourth. Coreno swept four matches in the Super Regional and had a six-point win in a decision within the title match.
The Knights had five second-place finishers at the Super Regional. Graduate student Jose Diaz, and redshirt sophomores Cole Hivnor and Cole Casilio drew preliminary round matches. Redshirt Sophomore Jerry Echevarria drew three-seeded wrestlers for the Division 2 Championships on Friday, March 16 in Park City Kansas.
Echevarria advanced to the semifinals after upsetting two seeded matches in the first round and earned All-American status. Echevarria remained in the D-2’s Top 10 throughout this season and entered the tournament 26-6. Coreno also picked up wins within his matches, as well as securing All-American status along with Echevarria.
Saturday, March 16 the Echevarria-Coreno duo finished top ten in their weight classes. At 133 pounds Echevarria placed fifth. He suffered an early loss against Glenville State’s Gavin Quiocho 9-0. However, Echevarria bounced back and won a 13-2 major decision over Elijah Musk of Lander to earn fifth place. Echevarria finished his first season at Gannon with an overall 29-8 record.
Coreno finished at 165 pounds and received sixth. Coreno crushed his opening day on Saturday with a 6-3 sudden victory against Adams State’s Aaden Valdez. Coreno became a first-time All-American, after not being a regular in the 2022-2023 season lineup. He lost his final two matches of the day, triumphantly ending his time in Kansas as a top-six member in NCAA Division 2 and 3-3.
The Gannon team placed 18th in the team race out of 51 other teams in the tournament. The team finished with 24.5 points, whereas first-place team Central Oklahoma won with 110.
This is the first season as head coach under Tom Boyd’s belt, after serving as the assistant wrestling coach since 1995.
“He has been a great asset to me and the wrestling teams over the past 20-plus seasons. I knew that he would be a great head coach last year when I could not travel to the NCAA Super Region tournament. He led the team to a second-place finish, with eight NCAA qualifiers” (Don Henry, former Gannon men’s wrestling coach, speaking on now head coach Tom Boyd).
