Wrestling Pinned by Two of Nation’s Best Teams

The Harvard wrestling team opened its dual season this weekend at the Lone Star Duals in Dallas, Texas against some of the top competitors in the nation.

Though the Crimson lost its matches against No. 2 Oklahoma State (8-1) and No. 3 Oklahoma (9-1), Harvard (1-2) demonstrated an ability to bounce back in its win against Wyoming. And its performance in the final meet against the Cowboys boded well for the rest of the season.

The Crimson opened its long Saturday with a match against an Oklahoma team with nationally-ranked wrestlers in every weight class but two. The Sooners represented their high ranking on the mat by defeating Harvard, 33-9.

“I think we definitely felt a little sluggish going into Oklahoma,” co-captain Kevin El-Hayek said. “We’re not exactly sure why. Mentally, I don’t think we were fighting.”

The Crimson scored three of its points when co-captain Dawid Rechul won a 6-2 bout against Joel Tapler, the beginning of Rechul’s undefeated day in the 285-pound weight class.

Sophomore Jesse Jantzen, fourth nationally in recent InterMat Wrestling Rankings, suffered a 6-2 loss to fifth-ranked senior Jared Frayer in the 149-pound class.

“Frayer is a really talented guy,” Coach Jay Weiss said. “It was a very close bout. The thing about wrestling these kind of matches, especially for Jesse, is that we see these guys very early in the year, get film on them and break it down. We’ll have a feel for what a guy’s going to do in certain situations next time we see him.”

After falling to the Sooners, the Crimson had little time to get back on its feet before facing Wyoming. But Harvard recovered beautifully from its slow start with a 36-6 win against the Cowboys.

“Basically, I grabbed them right after the match against Oklahoma and told them that if they looked at what Oklahoma did to us, we’re on the same level,” Weiss said. “It’s a matter of how much passion you wrestle with. It seemed like we were reacting to everything they did to us instead of going after them.”

Jantzen contributed six points to the total when junior Thad Trujillo fell in 58 seconds. Junior Reggie Lee earned a 5-3 win against sophomore Kevin Kessner at 184 pounds, as the Crimson gathered force in time for its final match against another set of Cowboys from Oklahoma State.

“We really gained a lot of momentum throughout the day,” El-Hayek said. “By the time we got to Oklahoma State, we were fighting a lot more. Even the matches we were losing, guys were running back to the center, really fired up.”

Crimson freshman Jon Mankovich set a tone for the match by winning the first bout 12-9 over freshman Ronnie Delk in the 141-pound class. Jantzen also made his mark, beating sixth-ranked junior Jerrod Sanders in a 4-0 bout.

Rechul pulled out all the stops in his final match and earned a 3-2 win over senior James Huml in double overtime. That would be all the points Harvard would get as Oklahoma State won, 28-9.

“I’ve thought that [Rechul] is one of the top heavyweights in the country for a long time,” Weiss said. “I think he can do a lot better than even that. That match is going to really get the ball rolling for him.”

Last year, junior Pat O’Donnell upset undefeated, top-ranked Joe Heskett of Iowa State at the Lone Star Duals. Though there were no such notable upsets this time around, the Crimson was able to rebound from a tough start to an admirable finish against one of the best teams in the nation.

“Last year, the team was really able to use the Dallas Duals as a springboard for the rest of the season,” O’Donnell said. “It’s looking like it’ll be the same type of experience.”

Now Harvard has a break from matches until it hosts the United States Military Academy on Jan. 26. The following afternoon, EIWA rival Lehigh graces the Harvard mats. With the Sooners and the Cowboys behind them, the Crimson wrestlers will only be better prepared for the rest of the dual season.

“This was really a chance for us to reaffirm ourselves,” O’Donnell said. “When we wrestle Penn, Cornell or Lehigh, we’ll know we already wrestled the best.”