DETROIT (6/4/2018) -- Rising junior John Kailunas III will have a chance to play for a world championship as the University of Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse defender has made the national team for Latvia in the upcoming Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Lacrosse Championships.

The event will take place from July 12-July 21 at Netanya Stadium and Wingate Institute in Netanya, Israel.

"I am still in shock," said Kailunas who found out he made the team on social media. "I was on a break at work and I happen to see the roster released on instagram and I didn't know if it was hacked or what, but then the coach called and let me know that I made the team."

The announcement came after a long battle that Kailunas took on to prove his Latvian heritage. He had to go back and research his family history, in particular, his great-grandmother and then attain proof that she was born in Latvia before she was moved to Germany.

"It was a long process having to trace back your genealogy to having a certain Latvian descent, but it allowed me to visit the country and really understand the culture a lot better," added Kailunas.

Kailunas participated as an alternate with the team at the European Championship and his play there on defense helped him earn a spot on the team.

"I would have to say that in the last two days, it has really hit me that I will be representing Latvia and have a chance at a world championship," said Kailunas. 

Kailunas transferred to Detroit Mercy from Marymount University (Va.) and appeared in two games this season for a Titan squad that set a program record with nine wins and advanced to the MAAC Championship game for the third time in school history.

As a freshman in 2016 at Marymount, he recorded a team-high 39 ground balls and 24 caused turnovers along with a goal and an assist before an injury forced him to miss his sophomore season. 

ESPN and ESPN+ will have exclusive United States coverage of the FIL World Lacrosse Championships. Across 10 days of play, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise 14 matchups, with more than 160 games available on ESPN+, the first-ever multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company Direct-to-Consumer and International group and ESPN. 

Nearly 2,000 players will compete in the World Championships, including a number of current NCAA Division I student-athletes. 

The Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) is the international governing body for men's and women's lacrosse and provides responsive and effective leadership to support the sports' development throughout the world.  The FIL currently has 60 member nations and holds the Men's World Championship, widely considered the sport's pinnacle competition, every four years.  The 2018 edition marks the very first time since the competition's inception in 1967 that a country outside of the US, Canada, England and Australia has hosted the Championship and signifies a major expansion of the sport, both in Israel and globally. The 2018 FIL Men's World Lacrosse Championships is also set to be the largest event of its kind to ever take place, with 46 countries trumping the 2014 total of 38 in Denver, Colorado.