![\"Wrestlers\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/sf-wrestlers.jpg?resize=1024%2C508&ssl=1\")
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SF State Wrestlers Johnny Costa, Jordan Garrola,\u00a0Andrew Reggi<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n In his purple SF State wrestling singlet, Johnny Costa knelt to the mat on one knee to attach his ankle band, but inside he was praying in anticipation\u00a0of his first match at Massari Arena at\u00a0Colorado State Pueblo University on Feb. 27. It was a tradition his grandfather had taught him to do before every match.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a really religious guy, I keep everything the same and go out there to wrestle,\u201d Costa said. \u201cI pray before every match, my grandpa told me to do that. I\u2019ve believed in it ever since and never stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n The tradition payed off as Costa became the first non-scholarship wrestler from SF State in 15 years to head\u00a0to Nationals. This dual however\u00a0was unlike any other\u00a0because it occurred at\u00a0the 2015 NCAA Division II West Super Regional, where Costa\u00a0became\u00a0one of three Gators to earn a ticket to St Louis, Missouri.<\/p>\n Costa, a redshirt sophomore from Escalon, Calif., placed fourth in his 184-pound weight class at\u00a0Regionals and will be joining\u00a0teammates Andrew Reggi and Jordan Gurrola for the National tournament.<\/p>\n \u201cHe doesn\u2019t get any scholarship money at all,\u201d said head coach Lars Jensen. \u201cHere\u2019s a guy going to a national tournament not getting one dime. It\u2019s very rewarding and I\u2019m looking forward to coaching him for two more years.\u201d<\/p>\n Costa improved\u00a0from where he was last season where\u00a0he struggled to make his 174-pound weight at times. After countless attempts\u00a0to convince coaches he was perfect for 184-pounds, he competed at that weight and\u00a0defeated California Polytechnic State University\u2019s Nick Fiegener in their first match this season. After the match, Assistant Coach Isaiah Jimenez gave him the OK to stay at 184.<\/p>\n \u201cMy eyes just glowed right away,\u201d Costa said after Jimenez approved his\u00a0move up in weight class. \u201cIt was probably one of the best decisions ever\u00a0because I would have died at 174.\u201d<\/p>\n Costa\u00a0ran into academic trouble last season\u00a0and lost his starting spot but with the help of his father, Costa\u00a0was able to steer into the right path and come back to earn his starting position\u00a0this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was definitely an eye-opener,\u201d Costa said. \u201cMy dad helped me get back on track, told me I needed to get my grades right. I came back got my grades right and I\u2019ve been wrestling well. I\u2019ve got everything back on track.\u201d<\/p>\n Sharing\u00a0a strong father-son relationship, Costa\u2019s\u00a0father, Joey introduced him to wrestling at age\u00a0five\u00a0and he\u00a0has\u00a0loved it ever since.<\/p>\n \u201cI try to be supportive and give him every opportunity to be successful,\u201d Joey said. \u201cWhether that means going to wrestling camps across the country or taking him to national tournaments ever since he was a little kid.\u201d<\/p>\n Costa\u00a0hopes to become a coach at his former high school, Escalon High School and eventually\u00a0put his criminal justice major to use after graduation.<\/p>\n That\u00a0is\u00a0in the future. Now Costa is headed to\u00a0Nationals, where he will face off with the number-one-ranked wrestler in the region, Ouachita Baptist\u2019s Dallas Smith, and will\u00a0have to win his first two matches to place and become an All-American.<\/p>\n Costa said his recent accomplishment has\u00a0not\u00a0hit him yet but directly after the qualifying match, he experienced sheer excitement as he turned around and ran to his coaches who were waiting on the sideline to give them all a hug.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew I had to win the right matches,\u201d Costa said. \u201cI knew I had to win the first one right away because that\u2019s really important. I knew if I won that first one I had a really good shot and I won it. Everything wound up falling in place and I wound up going to Nationals.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly after celebrating with coaches Costa\u00a0went to call his dad to tell him to book his ticket to Nationals.<\/p>\n His father replied as\u00a0happy as can be,\u00a0\u201cI already did.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SF State Wrestlers Johnny Costa, Jordan Garrola,\u00a0Andrew Reggi In his purple SF State wrestling singlet, Johnny Costa knelt to the mat on one knee to attach his ankle band, but inside he was praying in anticipation\u00a0of his first match at Massari Arena at\u00a0Colorado State Pueblo University on Feb. 27. It was a tradition his grandfather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[164],"class_list":["post-32568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","tag-college-wrestling"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/sf-wrestlers.jpg?fit=1612%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2B7Di-8ti","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}