Jeff Karam knows that wrestling at the Beast of the East is more about the experience than the results.

So, as the Golden Hawks came away from Delaware Sunday evening with a third-place team finish, the weekend produced what Karam was looking for, even though his wrestlers may not have liked the end result.

The Hawks placed four wrestlers after having 12 alive in the second day of competition and came away with no gold medals, amassing 146.5 points in the team standings, falling way short of competing against team champion Blair Academy (240.5) and runner-up Bergen Catholic (201.5).

To finish third in the Beast is a good result,” said Karam. “We know we’re going to take some hits at a tournament like this, but what we really want to take away from this weekend is to look at how we got exposed.

“It’s a valuable situation for the kids to see their mistakes, because it’s all there on film. We’ll come away from this better.”

Luke Karam (126) and Mikey Labriola (170) both found themselves in the finals, but came away without gold, as Karam was pinned by Bergen Catholic’s Nick Suriano in 1:50, while Labriola lost a 6-3 decision to Blair Academy’s Brandon Dallavia.

Karam’s loss is one that will resonate and motivate the Lehigh-bound senior, as Suriano’s takedown of Karam in the first period led to his arm being pinned against Suriano’s body, leading him to his back for the fall.

“Suriano capitalized on a great opportunity,” said Luke’s father Jeff. “We know he’ll see him again in January. Luke wants to wrestle these guys. He could have easily been at 132 for this tournament, but he wanted to challenge himself.”

Zach Glenn (106) took fifth for the Hawks and Niko Camacho (HWT) rounded out Becahi’s placewinners with a third place medal.

With only four wrestlers placing after having 12 alive in the second day, Karam expressed some disappointment about only wrangling four medals, but also understands that this is all about the process.

“This gives us ammunition to get better,” he said. “We need to work on our mat awareness and getting better on bottom. We didn’t pin many guys and that really makes a difference in the point standings. Again, it’s about being exposed and our guys will learn and grow from this.”