Council Bluffs, IA - Onondaga sent 7 wrestlers to the NJCAA National Championship this weekend and returned with the programs' first individual championship title. The men's team finished 21^st in the team standings overall, and fourth in the Division III (non-scholarship) standings.

Charlie Foster (Durhamville, NY / Vernon Verona Sherill HS), at 174lbs, posted a perfect 5-0 record at the national tournament after coming in as the No. 2 seed. Foster took on a Division I wrestler from Barton Community College in his first bout, winning by technical fall. Foster took another win over a Division I Northwest College wrestler by tech fall, sending him to the quarterfinal with a Division I wrestler from Southeast Community College in Nebraska. Foster took the win by major decision. The semifinal round presented another division I wrestler from North Idaho College. Foster secured an 11-1 win by major decision, sending him to the final bout. Foster took a 4-1 victory over the division I wrestler from Indian Hills Community College, making him the 174lb Champion. He is Syracuse's most recent since National Champion since 1992.

"As a coach, you really cannot ask for anything more than what we got from Charlie Foster this year. He set his goal almost an entire year in advance and worked tirelessly for it every week. Foster is resourceful, gritty, and does not let his ego get in the way. His season reflected the work he put in, as he never lost a match outside of two D1 opponents, which we wrestled the first weekend of the season at the Clarion Open. We went into the national tournament confident, well strategized for the competition, and in amazing physical condition, a recipe for success. He is relentless in practice and steady as a rock, which absolutely showed in his performance this weekend where he did not give up a single offensive point." Head Coach, Zach Gifford

Also on the men's side, OCC sent the first and only returning national qualifier, Enver Bulatov (Syracuse, NY / Jamesville Dewitt HS) and five others.

"Enver at 197lbs has been a massive piece of our success. He is the most mature athlete on our team, comes with absolutely no issues, and will do anything that is asked of him. He is a leader and someone with an extremely bright future. Enver posted a 1-2 record at the national tournament. He won his first match in dominant fashion, but the next two matches included back-and-forth exchanges, points scored at the very end of periods, and calls that felt like could have gone either way, but never fell in our favor." Zach Gifford

At 125lbs, Matt Dougherty (Jamesville, NY / Jamesville Dewitt HS) drew the No. 1 seed as his first match of the tournament. The eventual All-American's size and ability to work on his feet and in the top position proved to be a lot to handle, losing via major decision. Dougherty wrestled back hard and ended up grinding his way to two tech fall wins in the consolations. After gaining some momentum, we went into the evening session led to the end of Onondaga's run in the tournament.

At 141lbs, 149lbs, and heavyweight, we qualified our true freshmen Michael Boyhan (Auburn, NY / Auburn HS), Darik Soucia (Canastota, NY / Canastota HS), and Mykola Fabian (Dewitt, NY / Jamesville Dewitt HS) respectively.

"These wrestlers fought extremely hard, but our inexperience showed a little bit as we were unable to find the win in extremely close, back-and-forth matches. Our wrestlers made huge jumps in improvement this season, and I believe are now fueled with more motivation than ever before to make it on the podium next year." Zach Gifford 

Deanna Williamson (Fountain, CO / Fountain Fort Carson HS), our first ever woman to attend the national tournament, made her appearance alongside our six men's qualifiers starting first thing Friday morning. Deanna wrestled in a bracket of 25 women at 131lbs that was eventually won by a California native wrestling for Umpqua Community College out of Oregon. Deanna started the day off with an opponent from Northern Iowa Area Community College where she managed to pin her opponent with five seconds left of the 1^st period while being up 8-0. Next up, was a challenge in the No. 4 seed of the tournament, and eventual All-American out of Murray State College in Oklahoma. Deanna started the match off by trading high-risk, high-reward ties with her opponent, eventually losing by fall. Unfortunately, the next match would be her last in an OCC singlet where she lost to a very respectable opponent from Northern Oklahoma CC.

"Having Deanna be a pioneer for our women's program has been nothing short of amazing these last couple years. She has been extremely adaptive and has displayed immense amounts of courage, discipline, and given a prime example of what athletics at the community college level are about. She was accepted by and leaned on the men's team when other women quit, became ineligible, or were injured. She has traveled to every possible men's competition during the season to support her teammates. She has an obvious love for the sport and lifestyle we choose to live, and we hope she continues to pursue and thrive in her academic journey and her wrestling at a four-year institution. Our incoming recruiting class for next year is approaching ten women, and Deanna has helped by personally talking to them and helping recruit, but has also been the one to give them belief and lay the foundation for our women's team. She finished her season with a record of 13-4 and had been as high as No. 8 in the country before nationals." Zach Gifford

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