Wrestlers Destroy Princeton

Yesterday was a great day for Harvard wrestling. Not only did the grapplers defeat a powerful Boston University squad with relative dispatch, but, and more importantly, they defeated Princeton, ending an incredible 15-year string of losses.

Harvard coach Lee has been waiting since 1967 for a group of wrestlers that could defeat Princeton, and he finally has found the team. No longer will visions of giant Tigers keep him awake at night and interrupt his sleep.

Excited

Every member of the Harvard team was to be up for this match; with a string of fifteen years working against you, you've got to be ready to break free and explode away from the seeming constraints of defeat.

The Princeton win provides an important step in the squad's quest for the long-awaited Ivy League title, which will be on the line in the next two weeks as the Crimson faces Penn here today and then travels to Cornell and Columbia.

Even with the Crimson's confidence and drive, the home team was unable to put the victory under its belt until the final matches. Through the lower and middle weight class bouts, Princeton managed to keep the scores close. Harvard merely overpowered the Tigers in the final four matches to clinch the victory.

Once again, the two freshmen, 167 lb. Barry Bausano and 190 lb. Sean Wallace, came through with the discipline of seasoned performers. Entering Bausano's match, the Crimson held a precarious 13-11 lead, and the Tigers seemed to feel that they could pull off the victory. Just as they had for fifteen years, Bausano shattered this illusion as he went out with his aggressive, tenacious style and scored a 11-1 decision. In one of the meet's most enacting matches, Wallace find out with his agility and quickness to score a 7-5 victory over Rob Garthwalts.

Turnever

Between these matches, Mark Cooley, Harvard's rugged 177-pounder wrestled another key match over Princeton's lanky Scott Simpson for a solid 9-7 decision that put Harvard in the driver's seat. Simpson quickly found out that no one out muscles Cooley as the Harvard man bulled his way past his exasperated opponent.