The Whitehall wrestling team underwent a new experience over the holidays, something that should benefit them in the long run as they look to gain momentum heading into tournament season.

For the past couple of years, their holiday break was spent at the Donegal Tournament. This year they included a destination closer to home, competing in the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic.

This year’s Classic featured 32 teams, with a team traveling all the way from Wisconsin (Stoughton High School) to compete in one of the area’s top tourneys. It’s the biggest collection of talent in 23 years for the annual tournament and it showcased a lot of talented wrestlers. The tourney was won by Northampton who earned 184.5 points to nail down the team trophy. Easton took second with 129 points, while Stoughton was third with 156.

Whitehall finished 28th with 37 points.

Head coach Tim Cunningham felt that it was a good experience for his kids. They faced some tough competition and that will only help them improve.

“The tournament was an excellent and well run,” said Cunningham. “We are entering tournaments such as the Donegal and Hurricane because we want to compete against not only the toughest teams in the valley but the country.”

Wrestling in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference is a difficult chore, and Cunningham wants his wrestlers exposed to the best competition.

“Our schedule is as tough as it gets and the guys that are working through it and competing are only going to get better from wrestling with the best competition in the country,” said Cunningham. “We do not look at wins and losses as a team or individuals to measure our success, we are looking for the best competition to improve as wrestlers, not our win loss record.

“The wrestlers are growing from the experience of competing with the best and what it takes to become the best at anything they choose to do in their future endeavors.”

At 138, Kai Clark registered two falls before being knocked out in the consolation round by Northern Lebanon’s Zach Kelly. At 126, Noah Rex also had two pins before being ousted by Liberty’s Travis Brown. Rex lost both his matches by a single point, each one resulting in 6-5 decisions.

The Zephyrs will now get into the heart of their conference schedule with a match against Bethlehem Catholic this Wednesday. They follow that with a tussle with the Dieruff Huskies on Thursday. As always, Cunningham wants to continue to see his wrestlers get better every day.

“We have been seeing a lot of improvements in the wrestlers coming in the room looking to get better,” said Cunningham. “We will continue to work everyday as a team and make daily improvements. The wrestlers are learning how to deal with adversity and the struggle to continue to keep working hard to compete and improve.”