Blakinger Saves Crimson Face; Middies Floor Matmen, 35-7

What mattered most to Harvard wrestling coach John Lee before this year's duel with Navy was averting another 37-0 rout by the Midshipmen, who last year had a field day punishing the Crimson. So when Harvard's grapplers nabbed 7 points to Navy's 35 on Saturday, Lee was overjoyed.

Confident

"Our team's come around and has a lot more confidence now," Lee said after the meet. "Sure, Navy's the best in the East. But we did better than I expected."

The Crimson's seven points came on a close third round victory by Dan Blakinger at 118 and two frustrating draws by Carl Biello (134) and Richie Starr (190) who led most of his matches.

Biello battled Navy's Fred Handorf and held onto a 6-5 lead entering the third round. Handorf, who defeated Biello last year for third place in the Easterns, maneuvered to a quick 8-6 lead. Biello deadlocked the match, 8-8, with 50 seconds remaining to wrestle.

Richie Starr squandered a 3-0 lead over Navy's Jeff Simons, allowing Simons to tie the match late in the third round. Starr miscalculateu the time remaining in the bout by twenty seconds. "He thought he had time advantage and sort of stopped wrestling," Lee said. "It's disappointing. Starr knows he's a better wrestler than Simons."

Navy spent the rest of the day manhandling the Crimson, which incurred its heaviest losses in the middleweights. The Midshipmen pinned Harvard's George Baker (142) and Rock Henkel (158) and drubbed Mike Dee (150), 7-1, and Bruce Johnson (167). 16-5.

Navy also executed a 4-0 shutout of Bill Haley (126) a close 6-4 edge over Jim Strathmeyer (177) and a third round pin of Carl Culig in the unlimited division.

"Some of our freshmen looked good against stronger opponents from Navy." Lee said. "I'm glad to see some improvement."

Lee felt relieved that Harvard's two biggest meets against Cal Poly and Navy were over. "There's no one else I know who can really best us like those two teams," he said. "We could pick up a few more wins before the season's over. It's just a matter of improving in the middleweights and learning from mistakes."