One thing is clear for Northampton wrestling fans - Julian Chlebove is becoming something special.

The sophomore K-Kid added another championship to his short career over the weekend, coming away with his first Beast of the East title following a 3-2 victory over Nick Raimo of Hanover Park (NJ) in the 126-pound final.

It was the first Beast of the East crown for a Northampton wrestler in 15 years, as Chlebove improved from last year’s seventh place performance as a freshman to becoming a champion a year later.

It was the ultimate highlight for the K-Kids on the weekend, as they finished 12th in the team standings and medaled three wrestlers.

“Julian is a way better wrestler this year compared to last,” said head coach Seth Lisa. “He competes non-stop, all summer long. He experiences tough losses during his summer and spring training and all those challenges force him to improve. This was a big confidence booster for him moving into January of our season.”

Chlebove registered a fall, technical fall and major decision en route to topping Raimo, who was a New Jersey state runner-up a year ago.

Outside of Chlebove, senior 138-pounder Dan Moran came home with a third place medal and senior Cade Moisey finished in seventh place at 170.

Coming home from the Beast with three medalists is always a positive, but Lisa, like any coach is always looking for more.

“ Coaching is funny because you are constantly focusing on where to improve,” he said. “I think we have a lot of learning to do in order to achieve our goals but that being said, the team performed well. Our goal was top 10 finish and we finished 12th. We had our first champ in almost 15 years and we put three guys on the podium. Those are all positives.”

Moran defeated Kingsway’s Trace Kinner 5-1 in his consolation bout, battling back after a 6-3 loss in the semifinals to eventual champion Malcolm Robinson of Blair Academy.

“Dan has been a staple in our lineup the last four seasons and he has done an incredible job for us his entire career,” said Lisa. “He’s happy about placing third, but it was also a little difficult because he knows if he changed a few things he might have walked away the champ. He did an awesome job.”

Moisey defeated Michael Battista of Broad Run (Va.) 7-2 to win his consolation final. Moisey lost his second bout of the tournament to another Blair product, Leonardo Tarantino, 1-0, but came back to win four out of five bouts in the wrestle backs for seventh place.

Senior KJ Fenstermacher (132) did not medal at the tournament, as he lost in the quarterfinals to Andrew Wert of Central Dauphin 1-0, dropping him into the wrestle backs. From there, Fenstermacher was bounced in his next match, a 7-4 defeat to Caden Darber of New Kent.

The Kids (1-0) wrestled their second dual meet of the season Wednesday at Whitehall, past Press deadlines.

They’ll close out 2016 at Liberty’s Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic on December 28th and 29th.