At the recent individual District 11 meet, Catasauqua’s wrestling team got a taste of the present and the future.

The Rough Riders took nine wrestlers to the individual meet, and seniors Evan Reed and Gavin Hacker both finished sixth in their respective weight classes. The team finished 17th overall in the Class 2A bracket.

Head coach Jon Reed was aware that his squad would have a tough challenge ahead.

“I felt the kids wrestled as hard as they could,” stated Reed. “We were in a tough spot in those early rounds as we were matched up against some of the top seeds in each weight class.

“It was nice to take eight kids back for the second day, but they had a rough consolation round with only Evan Reed and Gavin Hacker advancing to the consolation semis, which guaranteed a top six-finish and a match over at Liberty High school for the placement rounds.”

Reed, who wrestled at 145, finished 13-14 overall and had a career mark of 62-48, was bothered by remnants of his shoulder injury he incurred last year. He also overcame some self-doubts.

“I started off the first day not in a good frame of mind, and took an early loss,” said Reed. “But then I came back, won two and lost a tough one.

“Wrestling for fifth and sixth place, my shoulder came out twice in the third period. I finished the match, but ended up losing. I just didn’t want my last match to be an injury default, but I thought I battled back well the second day. It just was an unfortunate end with the shoulder.”

Hacker, who wrestled at 127, finished 20-15 this season and 63-57 overall, was pleased with his performance, but not the final outcomes.

“I think I wrestled pretty good overall,” said Hacker. “I definitely had a few mistakes that did cost me big in a few matches. The Palmerton and Lehighton matches were what I expected for the most part. But it definitely was not the outcome I wanted to have. I knew that I would have to wrestle my best and they would be very tough matches.”

Overall, the Roughies won five dual matches, and they finished 11th in their Rough Rider Invitational, 28th in the Jim Thorpe tournament, 36th at the War of the Shore, and 54th at the Coal Cracker.

Freshmen Jaxon Beaton (14-15), Blake Reed (7-12), and Lucas Reed (2-6); sophomores Aydan Frisby (13-16) and Elijah Vasquez (5-18); and junior Jayce Perez-Rivera (10-14) will help form a returning core for next season.

Reed is optimistic that they can further develop next season. He also sees them eager to begin offseason workouts.

“It was great for our younger inexperienced wrestlers to get some experience at the district tournament,” said Reed. “We hope it will help over the next few years of their high school careers.

“As for now, it is onto spring sports to let their bodies heal from the grind of four months of wrestling. A lot of our wrestlers will be running track or playing baseball. There is a lot of interest in offseason workouts at Whitehall and hopefully some off season tournaments.”