It was sixes wild for the Zephyrs when the dust cleared after the District 11 Individual Wrestling Tournament.

The Zephyrs had five wrestlers place at the AAA tourney held at Liberty's Memorial Gymnasium last weekend, and all of them had one thing in common. Each wrestler finished sixth, as the Zephs placed in the bottom four of the team standings in 17th place with 42.5 points.

"Overall, the team wrestled well," said head coach Tim Cunningham, indicating that a number of the place winners wrestled junior varsity last year.

It is the first time Whitehall hasn't had a regional qualifier in at least 17 years.

"We will need to continue plugging away as a coaching staff to get the younger guys to the next level," said Cunningham.

At 145 Robert Tully was able to wrestle back after losing in the opening round, recording a fall and two decisions before succumbing to Cole Franklin 5-3 in the fifth place match.

Cunningham said Tully, who was seeded 12th, had to defeat two opponents against whom he had previously lost to get the sixth spot.

"Tully wrestled a great tournament," said Cunningham.

Boulware's journey at 152 began with a pin, decking Shykir Bethea from Pottsville in 1:48.

The next round loss to Southern Lehigh's Matthew Mirth forced Boulware to climb back into the hunt, where he picked up two decisions to earn sixth.

Tyler Bridgwood's run in the 182-pound class got underway with a 6-1 decision over Dishon Springer of Pocono Mountain West. After narrowly losing to Freedom's John Callahan, 9-7, Bridgwood gained a fall and a decision before losing to Callahan again in the fifth-place bout.

At 195, Joe Gladish pinned Southern Lehigh's Dylan Sheaffer in the first round, then had to battle back to get sixth, earning a fall and technical fall before losing a close match to Stroudsburg's Patrick Pierson, 2-1.

Finally, Fouad Haddad was trying to capture the crown at 285. He won his first two matches, setting up a semifinal match against second-seeded Brandon Lance of Nazareth where he was subsequently disqualified, forcing him into the bottom bracket where he wound up sixth and missing regionals by one spot.

Cunningham said that the team continued to progress throughout the year, taking formative steps from a young team to a more polished, seasoned group.

"We finished 16-9 this year and qualified for District Duals losing a tight battle to Northampton," said Cunningham. "Going into the season with only a few seasoned wrestlers and starting quite a few guys in the varsity lineup with no varsity experience or very little varsity experience, along with some guys that never wrestled before was a result of a bunch of guys that worked extremely hard every day.

"They walked in the wrestling room and earned the respect of the coaching staff, and every time we got knocked down they got right back up with a positive attitude and went right back in the wrestling room the next day looking to get better and improve on a daily basis."

The scholastic season has now ended for the Zephs, as no one advanced to the regional round, a situation Cunningham hopes to rectify next season.