Four Harvard Matmen Head to Nationals

After a strong fourth place finish at the EIWA tournament, the Harvard Wrestling team is sending four of its grapplers to the NCAA Championships that will take place from March 16-18 in St. Louis.

With terrific performances at Easterns, senior co-captains Joey Killar and Ed Mosley, as well as sophomore Dawid Rechul and freshman Max Odom each secured themselves a coveted spot at nationals.

Killar, with his first place finish at 165-pounds, became the second wrestler in Crimson history to win consecutive EIWA titles. He enters the tournament ranked 5th in the nation and is a veteran at the NCAAs.

Last season, Killar earned All-American honors by taking sixth place, despite an injury that kept him off the mats for two months during the regular season.

Killar has had an outstanding season thus far, boasting a 27-2 record, as well as second and third place finishes at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and Midlands, respectively. Both are highly competitive national tournaments.

Mosley heads to St. Louis after a solid second place performance at EIWA. He joins Killar as the No. 5 ranked wrestler in his 174-pound weight class and also has plenty of experience at the national level--he is returning to compete in the fourth NCAA tournament.

Mosley qualified in 1996, '97, and '98 before taking last year off. He has accumulated an impressive 26-5 record this season, placing third in Las Vegas and fourth at Midlands.

After a standout season at heavyweight, Rechul enters his first NCAA tournament as a real threat to the top wrestlers in his weight class. With a record of 21-14, Rechul has had many close battles with some of the nation's top heavyweights.

The sophomore already beat Cornell's Seth Charles--the no. 12 wrestler in the nation--in the EIWA semifinals to secure himself a place at nationals. He then lost a one point bout to No. 4 Bandele Adeniyi-Bada.

Odom, the youngest member of the group going west, joins the three upperclassman after a remarkable first season that earned him Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

Odom has grappled to a solid 20-6 record, including a win over no. 20 Malik Elliot of Boston University and a close two point loss to Lehigh's Dave Esposito, ranked No. 5 in the country.

The freshman clinched a wildcard berth to NCAAs with a third place finish at EIWAs. After losing in the quarters, Odom swept the consolation brackets and a came through with a pin to secure third.

Harvard hopes to build on last season's historic performance at nationals. The team finished 20th overall, with Dustin DeNunzio '99 and Killar earning All-American accolades with their fourth and sixth place finishes, respectively.

The performance marked the first time in Harvard wrestling that two Crimson grapplers earned All-American honors in the same season.

"We are very excited. All season we have been training and competing in preparation for this," said Harvard Coach Jay Weiss. "It should be a great weekend."