A year ago, in Palmerton head wrestling coach Justin Petersen’s third season, the Blue Bombers achieved attention as a program by qualifying for the District Duals for the first time in several seasons.

Despite the loss of personnel, due to graduation, Petersen is hoping his 2017-18 roster has the determination, ability and stamina to duplicate that same level of success, if not take it a step farther.

Graduated from that strong squad of student-athletes is Jared Mooney, who not only led the team in leadership, but also led his team in success, as he returned to Hershey for his senior campaign.

Also, John Iles, Riad Kapur, and Dan Nicolo completed their scholastic campaigns with success, leaving behind a legacy of hard work and desire.

“Last year, we had a lot of young talent, mixed with good senior leadership,” Petersen said. “We grew as a team throughout and made district duals for the first time in a few years. Despite giving up forfeits, the team battled through that adversity and hopefully, we’re going to have that same type of determination in order to replicate last year’s success.”

With four talented wrestlers gone from the roster, a recovery process needed to be implemented and that process began with hard work in the off-season.

“Something that I like this season, so far, is the dedication to the sport,” the Bomber coach mentioned. “We had more participation in off-season workouts and competed at more tournaments this past year, as well. I am hoping that translates into more wins for our individuals this year and help them progress into the post-season.”

In terms of the personnel for this year’s team, coach Petersen looks to his lower weights and sees freshman Colton Stroup, sophomores Grant Scott and Shawn Gardner, along with junior Hunter Fierro.

The middle weights will be manned by the likes of sophomore Matt Lalik, junior Lucas Christman and senior Nate Sterner, while the upper weight classes will see action from sophomores Chris Lucykanish and Aidan Melber, along with seniors Kyle Kralik and Cody Green.

In terms of strategy during the dual meets, Petersen likes his athletes’ willingness to jump around the lineup in order to improve the team’s chances of winning. He said, “I appreciate how the kids are so willing to bump around in the lineup in order to get better match-ups. I never have kids complain about making sacrifices for the team, which not only helps out schematically, but in the team morale, as well.”

Despite his squad’s lack of numbers, the fourth-year coach is hoping to compete again.

“I don’t want to focus too much on team scores, because of the forfeits,” Petersen said. “I think, in terms of matchups, I want us to win every dual meet, and I certainly think we can have success on the individual level in the post-season. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to have multiple kids competing in Hershey at the end of the year.

Our goals are to qualify for district duals again and make it to the Saturday of that tournament,” he said. “Individual goals will be to stay healthy and try to peak in February and March.”