Scranton, PA – Drayk Bunn won the 184-pound weight class and six Lakers qualified for nationals Saturday as Garrett College's wrestling team finished second to Sussex County (NJ) Community College in the Gulf Atlantic District team competition.

Sussex finished with 99.5 team points compared to 90.5 for GC, 88 for third-place Bergen (NJ) Community College and 87 for fourth-place host Lackawanna (PA) College.

"We were two points down going into the finals, but Sussex went 3-for-3 in the finals to win it," said David Wingate, GC's first-year head coach.

The second-seeded Bunn edged Sussex's third-seeded Noah Ripley, 4-3, in the semis. He then pinned top-seeded Jonathan Braun of Middlesex Community College in 1:38 of the title match to win the district crown.

"Drayk had a really good performance this weekend," said Wingate.

GC's second-seeded Tyberious Clayton reached the 174-pound finals, where he lost to Lackawanna's top-seeded John Koroma, 21-6, in a technical fall. Clayton pinned Michael Nwosu of Union College and earned a 20-2 technical fall over Middlesex College's Alex Pasquale to reach the finals.

"Ty had a really tough kid in the finals," Wingate said of Koroma. "It's a learning experience for him."

Garrett's EJ Guy (141 pounds), Linden Amtoung (157 pounds), and Cole Stuchal (165 pounds) each placed third. Matt Lombardo was fifth at 133 pounds.

"Linden was probably the best surprise of the weekend," said Wingate. "He was down in a couple of matches where he came back and pinned those kids."

Guy and Stuchal suffered tough semifinal losses before wrestling back for third-place finishes. Matt Lombardo – fifth at 133 pounds – will join Bunn, Clayton, Amtoung, Guy, and Stuchal as national qualifiers.

"I'm super-ecstatic about qualifying six for nationals," said Wingate. "We had a couple of spots where we were really close to advancing wrestlers to nationals, but overall we did really well."