3/6/25

SCRANTON, Pa. – Lackawanna College wrestling is ready for the national stage, as the Falcons send five wrestlers to the NJCAA Wrestling National Championships this coming weekend.
 
The action starts on Friday, March 7^th, at 10:00am ET/9:00am CT, inside the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with the preliminaries and first round of action, followed by the second round, and then the first three rounds of the consolation bracket. If any of the Falcons win through the first two rounds, they will compete in a quarterfinal bout during the evening session, looking for a spot in the semifinals the next day. If they must go through the consolation bracket, they'll have to win a fourth round and then a quarterfinal in the consolations to make it to Saturday.
 
The entire tournament will be livestreamed via the NJCAA Network, linked HERE.
 
About Lackawanna College
The Falcons will be represented by five wrestlers at the national tournament, the third straight year that Lackawanna College will send five or more wrestlers to the championships. At the Gulf Atlantic District Championship, the Falcons finished fifth as a team, despite only competing in six weight classes, earning two second-place finishes, one fourth-place finisher, and a pair of fifth-place winners. You can read the full recap HERE.
 
One of those second-place finishers was John Koroma (Woodbridge, VA), a sophomore wrestling at 174 lbs. This is Koroma's second trip to nationals, after winning at 174 lbs. in the Gulf Atlantic last year. Koroma won his first round match a year ago, before falling in consecutive matches to end his time in the tournament. This season, Koroma sits at 6-3, after not wrestling in the fall semester. Koroma won by tech. fall and decision at the District tournament two weekends ago, getting himself to the final, before falling to Johnathan Braun of Middlesex in the championship bout, 5-0. Koroma is 14-6 in his time at Lackawanna. Koroma is a 15-seed this year, and his opponent on Friday is Riley Hess out of Southwestern Michigan CC. Hess was a third-place finisher in the Great Lakes District, losing his opening round match before winning three straight bouts. Southwestern Michigan ended up winning the District championship. The winner of that bout will face Trystian Juarez of Pratt.
 
First-year grappler Connor Ondek (Scranton, PA) competes for the Falcons at 157 lbs. and finished second at the Gulf Atlantic District tournament two weeks ago. Ondek won a pair of matches by fall in 1:16 and 4:38, setting himself up for the finals, where he dropped the title bout to Riley Brewer from Andrew College. Ondek is 6-4 overall this season, and he was not available for the Falcons in the fall semester, so all his bouts have come after the new year. Ondek won his first match of the season at the Jayhawks Open in January, and all six of Connor's wins have come via fall. Ondek is a 15-seed in the 157 lbs. bracket, and he will open his tournament with a first-round bout against Alex Messing from Henry Ford College. Messing finished fifth at the Great Lakes District Tournament, taking fifth in a 13-10 decision over David Roa from Morton CC. The winner will be one of the three potential opponents, as Josiah Wickard from Snow College awaits the winner of Dawson Bond from Iowa Western and second-seed Job Lee out of Fort Hays Tech.
 
First-year wrestler Matt Gashi-Brito (Fairfax, VA) is competing at 141 lbs., and he is coming off a fourth-place finish at the Gulf Atlantic Districts two weekends ago. Gashi-Brito ran up against some stiff competition, winning his first bout by fall before dropping his semifinal match-up with eventual champion Joshua Baeza of Union College in a narrow 14-10 decision. In the consolation bracket, Gashi-Brito got back on track with a fall, but then fell in the third-place bout to Clint Gilbert from Andrew College to finish fourth. Matt has gone 13-8 overall this season. Gashi-Brito has gone 8-4 wrestling at 141 lbs., and an additional 5-4 against competition at 149 lbs. Gashi-Brito just missed fifth place at the Jayhawks Open in January, picking up a pair of wins on the day. Matt is unranked in the national tournament and is on the top side of the bracket. He'll face four-seed Gavyn Whitehead of Indian Hills in his preliminary-round bout. Whitehead is first-year wrestler out of Indiana, and he is 29-2 on the year, winning the 141 lbs. championship at the North Central District tournament. The winner between Gashi-Brito and Whitehead will face Bronson Richins from Northeastern Junior College in the next round.
 
Sophomore Edward Lauritsen (Brodheadsville, PA) wrestles at 125 lbs. and was a wild card selection for the national tournament for the second year in a row after finishing fifth at the Gulf Atlantic District tournament two weeks ago. Lauritsen won via major decision in his first-round bout before falling to the eventual champion, Lucas Stinger of Camden, in a fall late in the semifinal. In the consolation bracket, Lauritsen dropped a match via tech. fall, but pulled off fifth place because of a forfeit. He is 4-6 at 125 lbs. and 4-7 overall, having wrestled an exhibition bout at 133 lbs. Lauritsen picked up a win against Northampton's Jaden Figueroa back on February 3^rd, getting a tech. fall, 18-3. He also has victory by fall against an opponent from Utica University on February 8^th, pinning his opponent in 3:21. Lauritsen is 9-19 in his time at Lackawanna. His match this Friday will be one of the first matches of the day, as he is scheduled to face Jack Guerrero from Muskegon in a preliminary bout. Guerrero, seeded ninth in the national tournament, was the 125 lbs. champion out of the Great Lakes District, and he is 31-2 on the season. The winner will face Luis Acevedo from Northern Iowa Area CC in the first round.
 
First-year wrestler Adan Salazar (Scranton, PA) competes for the Falcons at 197 lbs. and was another wild car selection from the Gulf Atlantic, finishing fifth overall two weeks ago. Salazar won his first-round match by a major decision at 14-6, then fell to the eventual champion, Anthony Evangelista of Camden, in a fall early in the first period. In the consolation bracket, he dropped into the fifth-place bout after a fall, then bounced back with a dramatic fall victory over David Quintanilla of Union at 6:35 to secure fifth and earn himself the wild card selection. Salazar 9-15 overall this year. Salazar finished fifth at the Jayhawks Open at 197 lbs., and he had a pair of exhibition wins at the Electric City Duals back in November. Salazar has seen time at 197 lbs. and at 285 lbs. for the Falcons this year. Adan has a tough draw, facing Samuel Murphy out of Northeast Oklahoma A&M in his preliminary bout. Murphy is 20-19 on the year and was also a fifth-place qualifier out of his district, taking home fifth after a fall victory in two minutes at the South Central District qualifiers. A win for Salazar means he'll jump right to the head of the class and face top-seeded Ali Adel of Harper in the first round.
 
The head coach for the Falcons is John Fox, in his first year back with the program after spending three years away. Coach Fox was the original first wrestling coach in program history, helping start the Lackawanna program in 2017. Through his first four seasons, Fox built the Falcons into an immediate contender in Region XIX, coaching 20 national qualifiers, including eight in just his second season in 2018. Fox came to Lackawanna after coaching for years locally at the high school level. He coached at Scranton Prep in the late 90's before joining his alma mater, West Scranton, as the junior high coach. He changed the junior high Invaders into a local power, capturing four league titles in six years, and eventually became an assistant with the varsity program, before becoming head coach for West Scranton in 2006. He helped West win 83 duals and train 28 student-athletes to become regional qualifiers in his time. As a wrestler, Fox won 105 matches in his high school career, becoming a four-time Lackawanna League all-star and winning two District championships. He went to Wilkes and wrestled for two years before an injury ended his career. He finished his Education degree at Wilkes, then got a master's in Classroom Technology.
 
Tournament Information
The national tournament action starts on Friday, March 7^th, at 10:00am ET/9:00am CT, inside the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with the preliminaries and first round of action, followed by the second round, and then the first three rounds of the consolation bracket. If any of the Falcons win through the first two rounds, they will compete in a quarterfinal bout during the evening session, looking for a spot in the semifinals the next day. If they must go through the consolation bracket, they'll have to win a fourth round and then a quarterfinal in the consolations to make it to Saturday.
 
The NJCAA Network will have a video livestream available on every mat. You can watch along HERE.
 
Up to the minute results, including mat assignments, brackets, and scores, can be found via the event on FloArena, linked HERE.
 
The national tournament brackets, including the consolation rounds, can be found HERE.