Wrestling Team Finishes Ninth in ECAC Action

Harvard's lightweights, Dan Blakinger (118) and Carl Biello (126), were the only Crimson wrestlers to place at the Easterns last weekend. Biello's fourth place finish and Blakinger's sixth left Harvard in ninth position in the team competition.

Navy ran away from Penn State to take the Eastern collegiate title once again. Lehigh and Pittsburgh trailed the top two squads by a wide margin. Princeton, Ivy League co-champion, led the Ivy entrants in fifth place, while Yale, Penn, and Harvard were bunched at seven through nine.

Biellow's performance qualified him as a freshman for admission to the NCAA championship at Maryland on March 9. Coach John Lee was also pleased with Blakinger's finish, for the Crimson sophomore was in the tournament's toughest weight class.

As a team, Harvard did slightly better than last year. The Crimson has never advanced seven wrestlers through the first round before, but this year every Harvard wrestler fell to seeded competition in the quarter-finals.

The Crimson's biggest disappointments came at 142, 177, and 190. Jerry Kahrilas got caught in a single move in the quarter-finals and was eliminated Friday. He did not make weight at 142 for the consolation rounds on Saturday.

At 177, Ritchie Starr lost a one-point decision in overtime in the quarterfinals. Starr, who advanced to the semifinals last year, could not get motivated for the consolation rounds and lost, 3-1.

Dave Scanlon (190) had a good chance to advance in his consolation tournament, but Scanlon suffered a rib injury and will not wrestle again this year.

Biello beat Yale's Robb, 8-7, in a wellfought match, and advanced into the consolation championship. Trying for third place. Biello was pinned in the closing seconds of a tie match and settled for fourth.

Blakinger lost two close decisions in the consolations. In the semifinals he dropped a one-point decision to Penn's Eric Walters. The bout for fifth and sixth places was decided against Blakinger by a referee's decision after a tie match and overtime session.

Yale, Harvard's final opponent next Saturday, had one of two Ivy individual champions.