What does it take to build a successful team? Depending on your sport, that answer might vary greatly.

When it comes to wrestling, especially at the high school level, the solution can be far less obvious, with a number of factors often affecting what any squad is capable of.But if one thing is certain, it's that a strong foundation will go a long way towards determining just how much a team can accomplish.Such is the case for Lehighton, which has continued to grow and evolve around the development of juniors Tyler Cann, Tegan Durishin, Connor Frey and Zachary Kemmerer, a core that has combined for a 263-97 record in just over three seasons of varsity competition."Those guys are the nucleus of the team," said Lehighton head coach Danny Williams. "But it's not just for what they do on the mat, it's also for what they do off the mat to get guys to come out for the team, to spread the word and to talk about the team and talk about the sport to really get guys interested."That's how you really build a program - start with a group of individuals from the knee-hi level all the way up to the high school level."The bond between the collective of talented wrestlers started well before high school and goes far beyond the mat."When we were in elementary school, a lot of us were on the same soccer team together," recalled Kemmerer, who was a regional qualifier as a freshman and owns a career record of 64-26."Then it transformed into wrestling, and Connor and Tyler came out after Tegan and I had already started. From that, we started going to tournaments every Saturday and Sunday with our families and it's just something we've been doing for as long as I can remember."After playing basketball growing up, Cann credits much of what he's learned to those trips."Connor got me to come out in fifth grade and they've all taught me so much, whether it's been at practices or at clinics," said Cann, who is nearing his 50th career win.What has also helped to accelerate their growth on the mat is the fact that all four have benefited from competing at similar weight classes as they've progressed, with Frey (182) and Cann (160/170) frequently working together and Durishin (132/138) and Kemmerer (120/126) often pairing up.And the trickle-down effect can be seen throughout the lineup."They've had a lot of individual success, but they're also focused on building the team around them," said Williams. "They can recognize the importance of having those 10 guys around them to really be able to accomplish the goals that they have as a team."They know they have to reach out and try to get everyone around them better. And that's something, when you talk about an individual sport, you don't always get kids that realize that and it's nice to see that this group will do that, and it's only going to make the team stronger."The results have been impressive, with Lehighton currently sitting at 11-4 overall and coming off a 5-0 performance and a championship at this past Saturday's Indian Duals.The steady climb has helped drum up interest in the program, which has seen an influx of talent from a variety of other sports."It's just like how football was," said Durishin, who holds a career mark of 70-24 and has placed fifth at the last two District 11 Class AA tournaments. "If they see us doing better, then they're going to come out and want to be a part of this."That resurgent football squad, which Durishin was a part of, also featured Cann and Frey, who were able to bring teammate Wyatt Clements into the fold this season. Clements has proven to be a valuable asset in his first year of varsity competition, going 13-6 at 220 pounds."Last year, we lost a lot of really close matches" said Frey, a state qualifier a year ago who is currently 83-24. "And some of the guys on the football team came out and saw that we were struggling, and thought they could help."We're a small school, and one or two guys could make the difference."With another season and a virtually unchanged roster to look forward to, the future certainly looks bright for this Lehighton team."We're going to have every one of our starters back next year, and that's a luxury not every team has," Williams said. "So everything we do this year is something to build into next year, which will be a culminating year for this group."**********BLUE MOUNTAIN BOUND … This coming Friday and Saturday, January 16-17, Blue Mountain High School will host the annual Schuylkill League Wrestling Tournament. Friday's action will begin at 5 p.m. with preliminaries, quarterfinals and two rounds of consolations. Saturday's competition will get under way at 10 a.m. with the semifinals. The bouts for first, third and fifth places will be held on three mats beginning at 4 p.m. Time News area team competing in the event include, in alphabetical order, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Panther Valley and Tamaqua.**********UP-AND-COMING … This past Saturday, Upper Dauphin hosted the Schuylkill League Junior High Wrestling Tournament. Several Times News area schools did well in the event, with Tamaqua's Brian Milot (90) and Bronson Strouse (210) each claiming individual titles. Jim Thorpe's Jarrin Geisinger (155) also won gold. Panther Valley's Kyle Rusnak (100) and Jim Thorpe's Jacob Schwartz (105) each took third in their respective weight classes. In the team standings, the Blue Raiders took seventh with 109 points; Panther Valley placed ninth with 100 points; and Jim Thorpe finished 11th with 85 points. Upper Dauphin won the team title with 251 points.**********DUALING … With the District Dual Tournament approaching at the end of January, a number of Times News teams in are good position to get a high seed for the event. As of Monday night, Northern Lehigh held third place in the Class AA standings with an 8-2 record. Northwestern (9-4) and Lehighton (11-4) weren't far behind, coming in sixth and seventh, respectively. Panther Valley holds the 10th spot at 6-6. Palmerton sits in 14th at 5-10, while Jim Thorpe (1-5) and Tamaqua (0-17) are further adrift at 18th and 22nd. The Schuylkill League holds the top two spots in the AA standings, with Tri Valley (9-0) at No. 1 and North Schuylkill (14-0) sitting in the second spot. In the Class AAA side, Pleasant Valley (9-3) is the lone TN representative, coming in at ninth in the standings, which are led by Bethlehem Catholic (5-0).