The 2013-14 wrestling season is now in the rearview mirror, and the Zephyrs will look toward creating a new landscape with some solid building blocks returning next season.

The Zephs finished the year 16-9. They were also a young team that improved along the way, building toward a postseason that saw them develop as they gained more experience.

They were also buttressed by a strong senior class, many of whom were among the place-winners at the District XI AAA Individual Wrestling tournament. The Zephs finished with five wrestlers who all earned sixth place at districts.

Graduating this year will be Nico Kauffman, Quincy Boulware, Tyler Bridgwood, Mohamed Elseify, Fouad Haddad, George Hana, Lewis Kamamo, Samuel Kollie, Alonzo Mann, Jonathan Martinez Gonzalez, Ali Mobin and Adel Sharif.

"We lose a strong core of seniors, but they helped set a core foundation for the underclassmen for next year," said head coach Tim Cunningham.

Those losses will be substantial both in experience and leadership. However, they have a strong nucleus returning led by juniors Robert Tully, Brad Schuler and Edgardo Rivera, as well as sophomore Joseph Gladish and.

Both Tully and Gladish were among the five Zephs who placed sixth, while Rivera and Schuler both had a strong dual meet seasons, finishing 19-5 and 24-4, respectively.

"We had five wrestlers place in districts which was a pretty good showing, but we need guys to get to the next level and place in the top five to move on in the tournament," said Cunningham. "Each of our placers finished sixth, and we need to find a way to get them to place in the top five.

"As for our underclassmen, we need a strong off-season this year to prepare the guys for next year. Each and every one of them needs to be dedicated to the weight room and open wrestling to take it to the next level next year."

The work now begins to build toward next season. Cunningham will once again be tasked with molding a young group of wrestlers who will be first-time varsity wrestlers.

They will have two-time JV District 11 champ Tyler Oswald ready to spring into action, as well as Jake Sinkowski who placed fourth at 138.

Cunningham also said that their line-up will be bolstered by additional junior varsity wrestlers including, Dan Miturra, Nikitas Davis, Jesiah Davis and Justin Maicks.

Cunningham said that the season has been marked by an enthusiastic group that's eager to learn.

"It has been a pleasure coaching these guys because they are true student-athletes, excelling in the classroom and working hard in the classroom," said Cunningham. "We have a bunch of guys on the high honor roll every marking period and are very respectful in the classroom and in the Whitehall community. "Most of our wrestlers understand that academics come before athletics, and our coaching staff stress to them everyday to develop positive qualities from the sport of wrestling to make each and every student-athlete a positive influence in society."

He was also appreciative of his dedicated coaching staff that helped prepare the wrestlers every practice.

"Once again I want to thank my entire staff at the varsity level," said Cunningham. "I have the utmost respect for all the hard work and dedication toward the wrestling program. I also want to thank Josh Ballan and his staff for working with the Jr. High program everyday and constantly coaching the kids to improve even though it was tough at times with the small number of wrestlers in the program. "Knowing it was almost impossible to win as a team he coached each kid at practice and during the matches no matter what the team score was at the time. This holds true for our Little Zephyr coaches who volunteer their time and were in the same situation as Josh with very small numbers."