The Zephyrs come into this year with a good nucleus, and will lean on a good crop of seniors as they begin battling in the rugged Lehigh Valley Conference.

After finishing last year at 11-9, the Zephs still had a healthy line-up coming into this year. True, they lost their only PIAA regional qualifier when Matt Bonshak graduated, but they have a legion of good wrestlers who are capable of going far in the postseason. That group is led by their senior class.

In fact, those seniors will be the foundation on which this season is built. They include, Quincy Boulware, Tyler Bridgwood, Mohamed Elseify, Fouad Haddad, George Hana, Nicholas Kauffman, Lewis Kamamo, Samuel Kollie, Alonzo Mann, Jonathan Martinez Gonzalez, Ali Mobin and Adel Sharif.

Even with a strong senior class, head coach Tim Cunningham said that many of them don't have a lot of varsity experience. Additionally, they have a lot of underclassmen who need to get acclimated as well to varsity competition.

"It's going to be a work in progress," said Cunningham who is now in his 11th season as the head coach.

In that senior class, Haddad will be someone to watch as he's progressed every year he's stepped onto the mat. He'll be wrestling at 220-pounds this year. Also, Kauffman is another senior who was among the top wrestler's in his weight class last season. Kauffman will be at 120-pounds.

Sharif will once again anchor the lightweights, wrestling at 114 this season, while Bridgwood will divide his time between 182 and 195.

Tully also returns to provide them stability in their middle weights, wrestling at 160, while Boulware will be at 152.

Experience may be the best teacher and junior Edgardo Rivera returns to give their line-up another seasoned wrestler. Rivera will be wrestling at heavyweight this season. Also, junior Robert Tully returns and will be wrestling at 145.

The junior class also features Nicholas Guerra and Shadi Mallouhi.

Sophomore Joe Gadish returns and will be an integral part of the team, wrestling at 195 this year. Some other sophs to keep an eye on are Tyler Schaeffer (126-132) and Tyler Oswald (195-220).

Additionally, sophomores Jon Andrews, Justin Maicks, Daniel Mittura, Alex Ortiz, Jacob Sinkowski and Jesse Werkheiser will provide good depth for the Zephs.

Finally, the Zephs also have some freshmen who will have an impact this season. The frosh are Jesiah Davis, Nikitas Davis, Mina Ghali, Fadi Mallouhi, Marwan Rajha and Rafat Yacoub.

Even with all those returning wrestlers, Cunningham knows it's going to be a day-to-day grind. He said that every day is an opportunity to get better. That's their focus right now.

"We'll just constantly work on a daily basis and improve on our mistakes," said Cunningham. "We want to get better every time we get on the mat."