Grapplers Take Ninth at Eastern Championships

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.--The Harvard wrestling team's season came to a close Saturday at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships here.

The Crimson placed ninth in a fourteen team field that included perennial powers Cornell, Army, Navy, Lehigh and Syracuse.

Harvard scored 35 team points, finishing just out of eighth place but well behind the 136 point effort of champion Cornell.

The Crimson had six of its ten wrestlers still alive after Friday's preliminaries, three in the championship bracket and three in the consolations.

"Three semifinalists are the most Harvard has had in the last ten years and possibly in the history of the tournament," according to Harvard Head Coach Jim Peckham.

Eventual placewinners for the Crimson were senior Sam Cole at 134 lbs. (third), junior Frank Fronhofer at 150 lbs. (fourth), and sophomore 190 pounder Zach Cooper (fifth).

All three had the dubious honor of facing the number one seeds in their classes for their first matches on Saturday, Cole and Cooper losing to the eventual champions.

In addition to this third place finish, Cole just missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships at 134 lbs., which was the tournament's toughest weight class.

The first and second place winners in every weight class qualified, and six of the ten third place winners were selected as wildcards by the coaches.

Cole lost in the semifinals, 11-3, to Cornell's Mark Ferguson, who is currently ranked sixth in the nation. Cole came back to defeat 13th-ranked Nick Melfi of Navy, 5-4, in the match for third place.

"It was a gross oversight on the part of the coaches to not send Sam," said Peckham. "He earned the right to go to nationals.

"The only negative he had was that he had not wrestled as many matches as the wrestlers that were selected," Peckham said. "Most wrestlers had 24 or 25 matches, and Sam had a record of 12-2."

Fronhofer wrestled strongly for the Crimson, losing in the semifinals to 10th-ranked Jason Roach of Cornell, 7-4.

Fronhofer went on to win in the afternoon round, only to fall, 5-3, to Rutgers' Jason Hawk in the bout for third.

"Frank did a super job," said Peckham. "He has the potential to place in this tournament next year and go on to nationals."

Cooper also lost in the semifinals. He was upset by Princeton's Dave Walton in overtime, 6-4, but bounced back to defeat Brown's Paul Fitzpatrick 9-2 to finish fifth.

Wrestlers in Saturday's consolation bracket were sophomores Steve Aoki at 118 lbs. Michael Warnick at 142 lbs. and John Drosos at 177 lbs. All three lost in the consolations, and did not place.

"I am extremely proud of this team," said Peckham. "We had a tough row to hoe and caught a couple of bad breaks, and next year we will do better."