Henjyoji, Naylor Lead Matmen to Big Season, Maybe a Championship

This is a year for the little man in Harvard sports. Bobby Leo, Vic Gatto, and Tom Choquette formed one of the smallest Ivy backfields last Fall; the basketball team is falling back on its guards for support; and almost every other sport has less-than-huge athletes leading the way.

It's no less true in the one sport where the little man has always been a fixture. The wrestling team--driving hard for its first Ivy League championship--has been led to its current 5-2 record (3-0 Ivy), by two of the toughest, most determined little men it's ever had.

Howie Henjyoji (123), veteran senior, and Danny Naylor (130), a sophomore already established at the top, have been doing a job for the wrestling team in meet after meet of this momentous season.

More than Weight

* With two of New England's top heavyweights scheduled at the end of this year's M.I.T. meet. Henjyoji used the cradle (see pictures) for a 2:21 pin and Naylor scored a 9-3 decision When the smoke cleared, Harvard had a 22-13 win despite pin and decision losses by heavyweights in the last two matches.

* Against Rutgers last Friday, Henjyoji pulled a third-period pin; Naylor got one at 1:13. Harvard won that one. 19-17, on the extra points provided by the pins.

* And against Cornell--the meet that broke a Big Red 31-meet streak and set up the Crimson for the championship run--it was Henjyoji and Naylor making tough matches look easy with 5-0 and 5-2 decisions which eventually proved the margin in the 20-14 win.

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Henjyoji has the cradle and Naylor has the lateral drop. With these two moves, they've accounted for six pins in the seven dual meets this year, and at a time when the pin is becoming more and more a rarity in college wrestling.

The nine minutes of college match time--compared to six minutes in high school--that confront a wrestler have changed many an aggressive wrestler into a staller content to get ahead in points and artfully ride out time for a decision.

But neither Henjyoji nor Naylor will settle--especially this year, when so much is riding on every victory, every point.

With both men, aggressive wrestling has become a necessity, partially because of their heights (even for light-weights they are noticeably shorter than most opponents). To escape the groping arms of lankier, taller wrestlers, they have to shoot their own moves first.

"Personally, defensive wrestling is something I can't do very well," says Henjyoji. Since he has four pins to his credit already, no one wants Henjyoji to try, but he does concede some advantages to "stall" wrestling.

"Guys like that win national championships," he feels. They are men who maintain themselves through a grueling tournament while more aggressive wrestlers make fatal slips at points which stallers, take advantage of for winning points.

But Henjyoji loses "a sense of competing" when he tries merely to ride out a decision. And when he loses that edge, he loses the match.

The cradle is his move. It's an unbreakable pinning combination when thrown in well, usually done when both men are on the mat.

But Henjyoji has at times successfully used the cradle from standing position. Once again, it's because of his relative shortness. His opponents tend to bend over in order to guard their legs. He has managed to grab both a hanging arm and a leg while standing to fall into the cradle combination.

Henjyoji's problem is that word travels fast around the league. Opponents enter matches determined not to let him get the cradle. They cross their legs at the ankles--this is while they're on the mats of course--or they struggle to keep him from locking his hands if he does manage to slip his arm around their arm and leg.

More Freedom

His opposition's awareness of the cradle does leave Henjyoji with more freedom to work other moves, and he is working continuously to perfect new pinning combinations that complement the cradle.

Naylor has a similar situation with the lateral drop, although the unusualness of that move compared to the cradle gives Naylor some comparative advantage over Henjyoji.

The lateral drop is a fabulous take-down move which Naylor developed for himself in his high school senior year. In working it, he too is aided by his shortness and also by his incredible strength.

When a taller opponent is bending over with arms draped loosely in front of him,. Naylor pounces. He steps in, hooks one arm (see pictures), reaches across the man's front to hook the other arm, then falls back. Naylor's leg arches his opponent onto his back, and his arms remain hooked for a deadly pinning combination.

The move has accounted for two pins in dual competition this season, plus take-down and near-pin points in big decisions, including the 5-2 win over Cornell's co-captain, Bob Stock. Stock had more than a head on Naylor in that match, but proved a set-up for the lateral drop. The resulting take-down, near-pin in the first period decided Naylor's stunning upset.

Dangerous Move

Naylor, like Henjyoji, tries to refrain from his favorite maneuver because when it fails it's fatal. If on falling back he fails to arch the man with his leg or if he doesn't have his arms firmly hooked into the man, then he will probably end on his own back. Naylor's teammates mention the possibility to him from time to time.

"They say 'Don't do it; don't do it. You'll wind up flat on your back.' But if it's there, I take it. It's a gift." Naylor has found Christmas with his drop in meet after meet.

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The lightweights wrestle first. That can have two effects: either they mentally relax because of 'last-ditch performances, or they feel a responsibility to start each match with quick victories. Harvard's lightweights go for the pins.

"It's great to start a snowball going," Naylor says. To have a meet go down to the final heavyweight match is "fine as far as spectators go, but the spectators are not the guys wrestling."

Championship Fever

Henjyoji feels the same way. This is his last year, and he senses the championship. At the Cornell meet, he practically ran onto the mat for his opening match, and hustled to a 5-0 victory over Rich Beck without relaxing for a moment.

It's hard to see how momentum can work in a wrestling meet when each match is separate, but it does. Quick, exciting victories arouse both the crowd in the stands and the wrestlers waiting their turns on the bench. Those early voctories must come.

Away from the meets, lightweights develop a sense of camaraderie. They naturally practice together, and together they assert their importance to bulkier teammates in higher ranges.

Mutual Admiration

Henjyoji worked with freshman Danny Naylor all last year. Their versions of those sessions are slightly different. According to Henjyoji, the only time he could take Naylor was when Naylor was tiring. According to Naylor, it was Henjyoji who set Naylor off on an undefeated season. The mutual respect is obvious, but it does not stop either man from putting the screws on the other when the practice is in earnest. At the same time, a friend won't push another too hard in practice if he is injured or feels he really needs rest more than anything else.

The lightweights will be the key to Sarturday's home meet against Princeton, the one likely to determine the league championship. An early lead will be decisive in this match as it has against Cornell and M.I.T.

It is possible that lightweight Andy Kopecki, once-beaten this year, will be worked into the line-up at that meet, shifting Henjyoji and/or Naylor out of their usual 123 and 130 slots.

But with any combination, the Crimson lightweights should get their wins. And it's a good bet at least one will get a pin. The overall difference in points they provide will probably be the margin if Harvard is going to win its first Ivy League wrestling championship