Grapplers Finish Busy Weekend With Three Wins

"Three out of Five Ain't Bad."

That's the theme song for the Harvard wrestling team this weekend. After soundly beating University of Pennsylvania, Albany, and Lycoming and losing close matches to James Madison and Princeton, the wrestlers had reason to sing.

"We are the Champions."

The Crimson took down Penn, 25-9, and eluded Albany State, 21-19, at a tri-meet in Philadelphia on Friday.

"The whole team wrestled tough against Penn," 158-lb. Tim Kierstead said. "Brett Janis and Sam Cole wrestled well and Scott Beck gave his best match of the year."

"We had pretty good games against both of them," Coach Jim Peckham said. "Against Albany State we used three back-up wrestlers and four starting freshmen. You wouldn't see the football team use four freshmen starters if hell froze over."

"On the Road Again."

Saturday, the wrestling team hopped over to Princeton for another meet, but this time only went one-for-three. Princeton, the Crimson's main rival, barely nipped Harvard, 19-18.

Ignoring cries of sour grapes, Peckham blamed the officiating for the loss to the Tigers.

"You won't usually hear me complaining about officiating, but in this case, the official determined the outcome of Tim Kierstead's bout, and the outcome of the entire match," Peckham said.

Peckham plans to file a complaint against the official with the ECAC. To complete a take-down, one wrestler must gain control over the other wrestler. According to Peckham, the official gave the Princeton wrestler a take-down against Kierstead when he did not have control.

"[The decision] gave that kid riding time and the take-down," Peckham added. "It was a three-point decision that would have changed the complexion of the whole match."

"I didn't agree with the call too much," Kierstead admitted, "but a referee's call doesn't lose a match for you, and I should have been able to come back from something like that."

Without the call, Kierstead could have tied the match, giving Harvard two points and subtracting one point from Princeton's tally.

"Bad"

"That was one of the worst calls I've seen in 45 years of wrestling," Peckham said. "I mean it was bad."

Michael Jackson couldn't have said it any better.

The Crimson then fell to James Madison, 25-15. The team was minus Janis, who was nursing a sore back, and had to give up six points for the forfeit. Peckham also put in all of his second-stringers for the bout.

"It's a choice I make as a coach," Peckham explained. "They got a lot of experience and felt more like part of the team."

Harvard turned the tide against Lycoming, pummeling them, 31-5. With most of its starters back on the mat and Janis revved up after a back massage, the Crimson obliterated the team which had beaten James Madison earlier in the quad-meet.

Alex Konovalchik had a great weekend, racking up five wins and Sam Cole extended his undefeated record to 18-0.

"I think the team as the whole looked the best that we have this season," Tri-Captain John Willoughby said.

"It was a pretty good weekend," Kierstead said, "but there's definitely room for improvement."

Still, the Crimson wasn't singing the blues.