With an overall new cast, Catasauqua head wrestling coach Kyle Rusnock has been pleased with his team's progress this season.

The Roughies will enter this week with a 4-4 dual meet record and will participate in the annual Coal Cracker tournament. Catty also has meets with Pius X and Wilson left on their schedule before they will grapple in the district individual championships in a few weeks.

"We have overachieved," said the first-year coach. "We recently had a nice win over Southern Lehigh. We really have performed above and beyond expectations this season and it is a real credit to all of the hard work these kids have done this season.

"We have gained more confidence as the season went on, and it definitely helped us. We know we have some work ahead of us, but we are in a good situation right now."

Rusnock expects the Coal Cracker Tournament to be a good barometer for his team.

"We now understand what to expect from a tournament like this one," said Rusnock. "I expect us to come home with some hardware from it. Our guys have been working, and we should have a good shot at winning some of the weight classes.

"If we are successful, it would be a big plus for the program. There will be teams like Panther Valley and North Schuylkill, which are both very good. We also know about some tough weight classes. It will all depend how things break for us."

With the tournament and a pair of dual meets, the Roughies will have less down time before the District 11 Class 2A individual championships in two weeks. Along with the final part of their season, Rusnock has been impressed with his team's work ethic in practice.

"We feel like we are putting it all together at the right time," added Rusnock. "The competition in our practice room has been great , and I can see a lot of nice things happening. The guys are working to get better every day and they are taking the workout seriously.

"We're confident we can have a good finish."