Bethlehem Catholic’s 15th place finish at the Ironman Tournament wasn’t something that had head coach Jeff Karam was glowing about. The Hawks suffered significant injuries, had their will tested and only came away with two medalists.

It was not an ideal start to their grueling out of conference schedule, but there’s a reason Karam puts his teams in these positions and the Ironman may have been a wake up call for his troops.

“I wasn’t happy with how we performed or finished,” said Karam. “We put our schedule together for a reason and we got really exposed out there. We need to get tougher as a team.”

Harvard-bound Kenny Herrmann took third at 138 and Cornell-bound Cole Handlovic finished in eighth at 152.

Herrmann was the lone semifinalist for the Hawks, as he battled against the nation’s top ranked wrestler, Beau Bartlett of Wyoming Seminary. The Penn State recruit registered a hard fought, 3-1 victory over Herrmann, but it was his ability to bounce back and take third place, which showed his true grit.

“Kenny’s a great kid and a great leader for us,” said Karam. “He had a great showing at the Ironman. Taking on the No. 1 wrestler in the country is never easy, but Kenny gave him everything. I knew he’d battle back in the consolation rounds and was glad to see him finish third. I think one thing he needs to improve upon at this point of the season is his scoring. I’d like to see him be more aggressive.”

After handling Liberty last week 60-12 in their only dual meet of the season so far, the Hawks get a pair of tuneups against Pleasant Valley and Pocono Mountain West this Wednesday and Thursday before heading off to Delaware this weekend for the Beast of the East tournament.

Karam expects to bring roughly half his lineup to the tournament, since his team is dealing with a handful of injuries.

“I’m going to air on the side of caution this weekend,” he said. “We have some big dual meets coming up and I don’t want to risk some of these guys getting even more hurt. Our goal is to come back and finish in the top 10 as a team this weekend.”