Wrestling Loses Big One to Big Red

In order to be a contender, you have to excel in the face of adversity, you have to "get up" for the big contests and emerge victorious. The Harvard wrestlers fell short of this goal last Friday when they lost to nationally-ranked Cornell 32-10.

The Crimson (8-7 overall) made the match much closer than the score would suggest. Indeed, five of the 10 matches were decided by four points or less and two of Harvard grapplers were disqualified early in their matches.

Sophomore Dan DeVivo (167 pounds) was forced to make an early exit due to injury, while 190 pound sophomore Joe Weidle was ejected for persisting in an argument with the referee.

After falling behind 11-0 after three matches, the Crimson appeared ready to make a run for it. Junior co-captain Joel Friedman dispatched Shawn Bradley at the 142-pound weight class to put Harvard on the board. Freshman Joey Killar then took the captain's example to heart, defeating his opponent 4-1 and cutting the Cornell lead to four points.

But the Crimson couldn't rally, dropping three of the next four, putting the match out of reach. The only bright spot in the heavier divisions was the continuing dominance of freshman Frank "The Tank" Volpe who easily overcame his challenger by the score of 12-1 and improved his record to 17-4.

Although Cornell was favored coming into the meet, Crimson Coach Jay Weiss said he was disappointed with the effort.

"I thought that we matched up very well with Cornell and had a good chance to win," said Weiss. "But we came out flat from top to bottom."

But every cloud has a silver lining and the wrestlers were quickly able to redeem themselves. The very next day they returned to form with dominating efforts over Columbia, 25-13, and Umass-Lowell, 39-6.

"I think our guys knew they came out flat and that showed with their performance on Saturday," said Weiss about the turn-around. "Even the referee mentioned that it looked like two different teams out on the mat."

The loss to Cornell was disappointing, but the Crimson has been granted a second chance at a second place finish in the Ivy League. When Brown upset Cornell last Saturday, it opened up the Ivy standings.

This shocker, coupled with a Harvard victory this weekend over Brown, would place the Crimson in a three-way tie for second place. A position they have not finished in for, as Coach Weiss puts it, "a very long time."

This prospect is appealing and a good chance for the Crimson to establish themselves as a dominant team in the league.

"In the pre-season no one would have given us a shot at finishing second, we have a good opportunity to raise some eyebrows," said Friedman. "This is the end of the season, it's time to prime the pump and wrestle our best. Brown's going to be tough, but we match up well and if we come out fired up, we should be able to take them."

The wrestling team closes out its regular season this weekend with the meet at home against Brown and then a meet at Boston University. This is the final tune-up for the Eastern Championships on March 7, and is now made doubly important with the chance to finish high in the Ivy League.

"It's not too often that you get a second chance. We'll see what we can do with it this weekend," said Weiss.