"I am going to use this as motivation for next season … I definitely think we can come back and do it next year."

Those were Jarrad Lasko's words last year after finishing his run at the NCAA national championships, and it rings true a year later.  While he makes his return to the big show, senior Sam Gross and sophomore Jarrod Brezovec join him in the definitive competition of the season.  

As a team, John Carroll finished fifth with 90.5 points, placing behind host and champion Wabash (156.5), Baldwin Wallace (146.5), Mount Union (144) and Olivet (94). 

Final Results:  Team Scores   /   Brackets

Lasko moved his way through the 149-pound consolation division, completing two decisions in his first two matches of the second day.  Starting with a comfortable victory over Drew Mandell of Olivet by a 7-2 Decision, Lasko moved into a difficult match against first team All-OAC Stanley Bleich of Baldwin Wallace.  After losing in a 5-2 Decision at the Wheaton Invite, Lasko came back from a 5-3 deficit entering the third period to win in a 6-5 decision.

The win, while moving him to the decisive third place match that would send him to Nationals, was the 100th of his career, making him one of eight JCU wrestlers in history to reach the mark. 

Lasko encountered Wabash's Griffin Schermer in his next match, an opponent he lost to just the night before. Jarrad asserted himself early and maintained a terrific match to win by Decision, 8-5, and secure his second trip to the national tournament in two years.

Jarrod Brezovec entered competition on Saturday with the opportunity to clinch a national championship ticket with his first match of the day.  Unfortunately, Jordan Napier, who Brezovec lost to earlier in the season, bested him with a 10-7 decision.

Faced with the reality of win or go home for the second consecutive year, Brezovec did not back down from the challenge.  In a gritty match with Baldwin Wallace's All-OAC second team competitor Tanner McHugh, Brezovec held his one in a close battle, until he completely stunned the crowd with an unbelievable pin with just 39 seconds remaining in the match. 

In the pivotal third place match, Jarrod recognized his opponent of Riley Lomenick from the previous night's bout. While a new day provided a new challenge, the decision remained in Brezovec's favor as he scraped five points together in the third period for a 9-6 win and ticket to the NCAA national championship.

Sam Gross began his second day of wrestling in the same boat as Lasko: win out or go home.  After a dominating performance over Jimmy Traub of Thomas More, Gross encountered two straight matches that made him give his all to advance.  Narrowly edging out Olivet's Tyler Grimsley in a 3-2 decision, Gross punched his ticket to the big dance with a single takedown victory over Michael McIntire of Mount Union, 4-0 Decision.  A 2019 second team and 2018 first Team All-OAC competitor, McIntire got the best of Gross a couple of weeks ago at the JCU Quad meet. When it mattered most, however, Gross stepped up and earned his spot in Roanoke.  

The placewinners for John Carroll included Andrew Perelka (4th), Spencer Dusi (6th), and Daniel Novak (7th).  Both Dusi and Novak won their first matches of the day and then dropped their second. Dusi would not compete in the fifth place match due to injury, while Novak won over ONU's Shaun Wagner, 4-2. 

Perelka may have had the most heartbreaking day of all the Blue Streaks. He defeated his opponents in his first two matches, including the semifinal in the consolation bracket against Seth Transue from Ohio Northern. In a match fought tooth and nail, Transue tied it up with a late escape, but Perelka accumulated enough ride time to give him the one point advantage in the 7-6 Decision. 

In the third place match against Wabash's Carlos Champagne, Perelka had come all the way back from an 8-3 deficit in the final period to pull to within a single point. In the closing seconds, Perelka manufactured a move to put Champagne in a near fall, but time expired before the referee could award the advantage to Perelka.

This was Dusi's, Novak's and Perelka's first appearances at the NCAA Regional Tournament.

It was an impressive showing for the Blue Streaks, who knocked off two all-conference wrestlers from the OAC to advance to the nationals.

"This family is beginning to fire on all cylinders," said JCU assistant coach Chad Rhoades. "It's been our goal to do the right things all the time so that we can experience outcomes like today. All of our qualifying wrestlers beat opponents that beat us earlier this year...our formula works."

The Blue Streaks will be competing on March 8th and 9th in Roanoke, Virginia for the NCAA Division III national championship tournament.