The Whitehall wrestling team will now turn its attention to the upcoming season as they try to build from this year’s campaign.

The Zephyrs finished the season at 6-13 overall and 1-8 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

They were trending upward toward the end of the season. They won their last two matches of the season, and before that were just a few tossup bouts from getting wins against Dieruff, Pocono Mountain West and East Stroudsburg North High Schools, all of which were in the latter half of the season.

That type of improvement was important for their maturity this season. It was also something that head coach Tim Cunningham wanted from his young grapplers as they competed in the tough EPC which dominated this year’s Northeast Regional tournament, a testament to how challenging their schedule was this year.

A number of young wrestlers also found their footing as the season progressed. Caleb Staub, Noah Rex, Nikitas Davis, Marwan Rajha, Jesiah Davis, were all part of that upswing, each one gaining some momentum as the tournament season approached.

They were also aided by seniors Dan Mittura and Tyler Oswald who were great in the room every day, said Cunningham. They showed the younger kids what it took to be a varsity wrestler.

“I do believe we improved on a daily basis throughout the season and it started showing on the mat in January and then in the postseason,” said Cunningham. “But like I said, we need to make sure these guys work hard this offseason so when they do peak in the postseason they are at a high enough level to be placing hardware around their necks and wrestling longer into the postseason.”

The Zephs will return most of their lineup next season. They’ll be solid through the lightweights as Nick Demjan, Staub, Rex, and Josh Grol all return.

The middleweights will also have an experienced corps return as Nikitas Davis, Jesiah Davis, Gavin Morber, Brandon Vega and John Kaintz come back as well.

The upper weights is where they’ll feel graduation loss the most, but they’ll still have experience coming back next season as Rajha, Mike Ajami and Thomas Klotz are varsity returnees.

Cunningham believes the seeds to success next season are sewn on the mat this year. Just because the season is over, the work doesn’t stop with it. Wrestling takes dedication. It takes effort and commitment.

“We have quite a few returners next year that have the ability to take it to the next level but champions in March are made in the off season,” said Cunningham. “We are already in the weight room three days a week, have our wrestling room open every Wednesday and take a van every Thursday to a club wrestling room for those that want to improve their technique and mental toughness.

“We are taking guys to tournaments every weekend and hope to see even more wrestlers participating in the tournaments.”

Cunningham said that he and all the coaches are working toward the same goal. The focus is getting them prepared for a successful postseason run.

“As a staff we know it is our job to get these guys to the next level and get back on the podium when it matters,” Cunningham said. “Hopefully this offseason we get the majority of the guys to buy into the hard work that it takes in order to be district place winners.”

The program now says goodbye to their seniors. They lose Oswald and Mittura, and Justin Maicks and Jake Sinkowski.

“We will miss the hard work and dedication of our senior wrestlers and we hope they had a positive effect on the younger wrestlers through their hard work in the room everyday,” said Cunningham. “If we can get all our guys to improve as much as Dan Mittura throughout the last couple years, we will once again have multiple post season place winners.”