Grapplers Crush Yale, 28-8

Here's a fun, fun, good-time wrestling riddle for you.

Q: What stalls more than a '78 Monte Carlo riding through Buffalo in the middle of January?

A: The Yale wrestling team.

The Harvard wrestling team revved up its engines for its final dual meet Saturday at the Malkin Athletic Center, and the Crimson ran over the Bulldogs, 28-8.

Yale is renowned for utilizing stalling tactics to compensate for inferior conditioning, and Saturday was no exception.

"Yale's reputation for using up all of the injury time in a match is unparalleled in the history of the sport," Coach Jim Peckham said. "They lived up to their reputation today."

"The official did not call stalling," Peckham continued. "When you work hard, you're in condition, you make attempt after attempt to take down and the referee doesn't do his job, it makes it very difficult."

Difficult, but not impossible, as Brett Jamis at 118-lbs. proved, racking up all his points in the third period in a 3-1 win over Aric Soderbloom. Todd Cameron (126-lbs.) kept the Elis' wheels spinning, 10-2, while upping the Crimson lead by another four points.

Riddle #2

Q: What do you call it when a second-string varsity wrestler pins a First Team All-Ivy wrestler?

A: An upset.

Ted Stachtiaris (134-lbs.) was not at all upset to find himself pinning Yale's Charles Lee with 68 seconds left in the match.

"[Stachtiaris] was losing, wrestling really scrappy, but then he hit that throw and got the guy on his back," Scott Beck said. "It was awesome. He got me psyched for my match and it pumped everybody up."

Beck, at 142-lbs., wrestled his best match of the year when he sped off with a 14-5 blowout over Nick Lyon.

"It was the final match of my career," said Beck. "I had to go out strong."

Tri-Captain Tim Kierstead pulled out with a 3-2 win and Tri-Captain Alex Konovalchik (190-lbs.) stunned the fans, taking down Yale's Dan McInnis in the final four seconds of the match for a 5-4 comeback win.

Big, Big Holes

"I just really enjoyed it," said Konovalchik. "It was the best win in my career."

Heavyweight Kelly Flynn also pumped out a 6-4 decision against Mark Semlow.

"Overall I'm happy with the progress that we made this season but we still have some big, big holes and some flat spots," Peckham said.

THE NOTEBOOK: The Crimson hits the road for the Eastern Championships Thursday at Lehigh..."For the Easterns this week, we're hoping that Sammy [Cole's] ribs are going to heal," Peckham said. "He could be an outside shot, and Alex could perhaps do something. But, this is a young team, and I think our future in the Easterns is really in the future."