Wrestling Nipped by Lehigh

The Harvard wrestling team came away from a tough intersession weekend series with a split against Army and Lehigh to open its EIWA season.

The Crimson (2-3, 1-1 EIWA) next wrestles on Feb. 2, facing Sacred Heart and No. 20 Hofstra in Hamstead, N.Y.

Lehigh 21, Harvard 20

The Crimson maintained a small lead going into the final match of its meet with No. 12 Lehigh, but the absence of injured junior Reggie Lee kept Harvard from reaching victory.

“It was disappointing,” said co-captain Kevin El-Hayek. “We were hurt by having Reggie Lee get injured the day before.”

The Crimson’s Brandon Kaufmann—a sophomore who usually wrestles at 157 pounds—made the jump up to 184 pounds to face Lehigh captain Rob Rohn, an All-American ranked sixth nationally in his weight class.

Giving up a great deal of experience and nearly thirty pounds, Kaufmann lost 3-1 to Rohn. His defeat was the deciding factor in the Crimson’s 21-20 loss, but his effort was not lost on his teammmates.

“Everyone was pretty impressed that he did that [jumping up three weight classes] for the team,” Jantzen said.

“To concede that match to Lehigh, that’s just not our style,” El-Hayek added.

Harvard lost the meet’s first match, but took a 6-4 lead when co-captain Dawid Rechul recorded a fall in the heavyweight bout.

Harvard fell behind again after losing the next two matches, but pulled ahead after freshman Jon Mankovich pinned Lehigh’s Tommy Rohn in the 141-pound weight class, and then sophomore Jesse Jantzen scored a technical fall at 149 pounds. The back-to-back victories gave Harvard a 17-10 lead.

Lehigh narrowed Harvard’s lead with a win in the 157-pound class, but junior Pat O’Donnell extended Harvard’s lead to 20-13 with a 4-2 win over Lehigh’s Nate Cote. Sophomore P.J. Jones lost in the 174-pound. class and the Mountain Hawks drew within four, 20-16, to set up the crucial final match.

Harvard 29, Army 10

Harvard started its EIWA season on Saturday at the Malkin Athletic Center with a convincing win over Army. The Crimson started the meet down 3-0 after Army’s John Paxton defeated freshman Jonas Corl 8-2 in the 197-pound match. The Crimson captured the next three matches on the strength of its captains. Rechul won 8-1 at heavyweight, and El-Hayek took the 133-pound match, 4-0.

Harvard extended its meet lead to 16-4 on the strength of Jatnzen. Jantzen, the fifth-ranked wrestler nationally in the 141-pound class, beat Army’s Eric Miller.

Harvard went on to win the last three matches of the day, with Lee, O’Donnell, and Jones all pulling out victories. O’Donnell’s victory was particularly impressive since he recorded a full two-second pin on Army’s Ron Schroeder.

“Guys really stepped it up,” said Jantzen. “Pat O’Donnell helped the team a lot with his full pin.”

“I thought we came out a little flat,” El-Hayek said. “Even when we’re not wrestling our best, we can pull out a win. That’s encouraging.”

See Harvard Scoreboard on Page B-4 for full results.