Columbia Nips Wrestlers, 22-21; Lions Pounce Early in Match

The Columbia wrestling team handed the Harvard grapplers their second Ivy League loss of the weekend of Saturday in New York City when they narrowly defeated the Crimson, 22-21, in a match marked by an amazing call by the referee.

With 14 seconds remaining in the 177-lb. bout, Crimson matman Ed Bordley was holding a commanding lead when he was placed in a pinning hold by Columbia's Jim Kalbacker. Kalbacker exposed both of his own shoulders to the mat as he tried to pin Bordley, but the referee did not award Bordley the pin.

Immediately after the bout, Harvard's coach Johnny Lee asked the referee if the Columbia wrestler hadn't been pinned and the referee said, "Yes, but I didn't call it." In fact, Kalbacker received near fall points and avoided losing by a four-point major decision.

Bordley wound up with a 13-6 victory and only three team points. The Crimson were still within range of a victory when Sal D'Agostino raised his record to 8-1 by pinning Kelly Moran at 7:05 in the 190-lb. class to cut the Columbia lead to 22-15.

In the final bout, Harvard's Craig Beling threatened to pin his opponent Jay Craddock several times and barely missed a five-point major decision when he ended up with a 14-3 win.

The Lions from Columbia were ferocious in the lighter weights. Harvard fell behind, 20-0, during the first five bouts. After Kevin McKenna recorded a pin in the opening match, Columbia's co-captains racked up consecutive major decisions in the 126 and 134-lb. classes.

Next, Art Santiago shut out Crimson grappler Bob Cusumano, 3-0, in the 142-lb. division before Crimson co-captain Tom Bixby suffered a tough 2-1 defeat at the hands of freshman Greg Thomas of Columbia at 150 lbs.

Jim Corcoran put Harvard on the scoreboard when he pinned Sam Pepin at 4:10 of the 158-lb. bout. Both teams garnered two points in the next class when Harvard's Jon Franklin and Columbia's Steve Shapiro battle to a 9-9 draw. From then on it was all Harvard as the Crimson grapplers almost salvaged the meet.

Harvard's co-captain Jim Corcoran said yesterday, "We wrestled well but got too far in the hole. We knew they were really tough in the early weight classes."

Tom Bixby, Harvard's other co-captain, said, "The team may have suffered from some post-examinations blues this weekend."

The grapplers will return to the IAB this weekend for a match at 6:30 Friday night against Princeton and at 3:30 Saturday afternoon with Pennsylvania.