Six Harvard Wrestler Begin NCAA Competition

It's not heaven, but Iowa is the final destination for six Harvard wrestlers competing this weekend in the NCAA Championships.

The three-day finale tournament that started yesterday in Iowa City features the nation's top wrestlers competing for medals in ten weight classes.

This is the best year ever for the Crimson. Last week it won its first-ever Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) championship, defeating powerhouse teams like Lehigh and Penn. Co-captain Matt Picarsic and junior heavyweight Dawid Rechul also picked up individual championships.

The Crimson is also the Ivy League champion, and on the strength of those results garnered three automatic and three wild-card bids in this weekend's tournament.

All six Crimson wrestlers competed in first-round action yesterday, and the team finished tied for 31st out of 78 squads after the first session.

Rechul, who earned the Most Outstanding Wrestler award at EIWAs, faced off against Mike Maben of UC-Davis in the first round and won 7-1.

Rechul will have a tough time getting by the second round, however. He will face Garrett Lowney, who is seeded first in the heavyweight division. Lowney is a freshman at Minnesota and won a bronze medal at the Syndey Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Harvard's other captain, Francis Volpe, will also move on to second-round action in the 184-lb division. Volpe, who competed in the NCAAs in 1998, defeated Rider's Shawn Scannell 7-1. He will face Virginia Tech's Scott Justus, who upset the fifth seed on his way to the next round.

Sophomore Pat O'Donnell, who earlier this year defeated the nation's then-No. 1 165-pounder Joe Heskett from Iowa State, had to win a qualifying match to enter the main 165-lb draw. He did just that, defeating Oregon State's Jed Pennell 6-4, but lost in the first round, 7-0, to Slippery Rock's Doug Cieleski.

O'Donnell will next face Hunter Guenot of Bloomsburg in the consolation tournament.

The Crimson's other three wrestlers all lost their first round matches. Picarsic, competing at 133-lb, lost to fourth-seeded Pat McNamara of Michigan State, 5-2. He will face Urijah Faber of UC-Davis in the fallback tournament.

Freshman sensation Jesse Jantzen faced off against 11th-seeded Mike Kulczycki in the 149-lb bracket, and the Michigan star took out Jantzen, 9-4. Jantzen's next stop is a consolation tournament bid versus Dom Surra of Clarion College.

Sophomore Max Odom, who was last season's Ivy Rookie of the Year, made his second NCAA tournament yesterday, moving up to the 157-lb bracket. Oregon State's Eric Jorgensen, seeded fourth in the tournament, soundly defeated Odom, 13-1. Odom will next take on either P.J. Boccia of Appalachian State or Ohio State's Josh Janson in the consolation round.

The NCAA championships will last through tomorrow.